
:i^ 



THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 



THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 



THOMAS JEFFERSON 



Including all of His Important utterances on 

Public Questions, Compiled from State 

Papers and from His private 

Correspondence 



BY 

S. E. FORMAN 

Ph. D. Johns Hopkins 



SECOND EDITION 



INDIANAPOLIS 
THE BOBBS-MERRILL COMPANY 

PUBLISHERS 
C 






Copyright, 1900 

The bowen-Merrill Company 

ALL Rights Reserved 



U<\ic^i 



t)a 



-4Mr 



PRESS OF 

BRAUNWORTH & CO. 

BOOKBINDERS AND PRINTERS 

BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



PREFACE. 



THROUGHOUT the formative period of our national life 
Thomas Jefferson stood second only to Washington in 
power and influence; after the death of Washington, for 
a quarter of a century, the will and words of Jefferson were 
supreme in American politics. After his death the spirit of 
Jefferson lived on, and to-day millions of men regard him as 
the greatest prophet of government and expounder of human 
rights that the world has produced. 

An inquiring mind, doubtless, desires to know the exact 
nature of the teachings of one who has so profoundly affected 
society, desires to read the precise words of his doctrine. But 
it is not an easy matter to satisfy this desire. The doctrines of 
^ :fferson are scattered through many costly volumes that 
are to be found only in favored private libraries or in centers 
where there are large public libraries. It is the purpose of this 
'olume to put the teachings of Jefferson within the reach of all. 
His voluminous correspondence and numerous State papers 
have been examined and wherever a significant passage or an 
important official document has been found it has been classified 
and placed in this collection. Nothing that has point has been 
omitted. 

For the purpose of making the writings more serviceable and 
intelligible a Life of Jefferson has been prepared. In this bio- 
graphical sketch the aim has been to avoid controversy, abuse 
and eulogy, and to state the facts in a fair, non-partisan manner. 

The portion of the Life beginning with Jefferson's career in 
France and continuing to the end has been written by Dr. W. 
A. Montgomery, of Arkansas College, Fayetteville, Arkansas. 

S. E. F. 



THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 
OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 



THE LIFE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. 



SCHOOL AND COLLEGE DAYS. 

THOMAS JEFFERSON was born on the thirteenth day 
of April, 1743, at the homestead of Shadwell, near the 
city of Charlottesville, Albemarle County, Virginia. His 
father, Peter Jefferson, was a farmer, prosperous, strong in 
body, intellectual, and capable of public spirit. His mother was 
Jane Randolph, a refined and accomplished daughter of Isham 
Randolph, a worthy representative of the powerful family whose 
name he bore. Thus from both father and mother Jefferson 
was fortunate in his personal inheritance: big bones, well-knit 
muscles, a quick understanding, gentle instincts, and high social 
position. 

The education of young Jefferson was attended by such happy 
circumstances that in after life he was constrained to say that, if 
he were called upon to choose between the large estate left him 
by his father and the education given to him, he would without 
hesitation choose the latter. At the age of live he was sent to 
school at Tuckahoe, a temporary residence of his family, where 
he learned the rudiments of English and was practiced in 
psalms and in the prayers and collects of the liturgy of the 
Episcopal Church. At the age of nine he was placed under the 
care of the Rev. William Douglas, a Scotchman, from whom 
he learned the beginnings of Latin, Greek, French, and mathe- 
matics. With this master he remained until his fourteenth year, 
when death suddenly took away his father. He now left the 
school of the Scotchman, carrying with him memories of 
*'mouldy pies and excellent instruction," and entered one kept 



4 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

by the Rev. James Maury, a Huguenot, a man of broad and 
independent mind, and a correct classical scholar. For two 
years he remained with this masterful tutor, working hard at 
his books during school time, and during holidays and vaca- 
tions taking abundant exercise, hunting the mountains for their 
plentiful game and joining heartily in all the sports of boyhood. 

In 1760, Jefferson of his own will and desire, began his 
studies at the College of William and Mary, situated at Wil- 
liamsburg, the capital of the colonial government of Virginia. 
Williamsburg was an unpaved, hap-hazard village of about a 
tho'Usand inhabitants. Small as the little capital may appear to 
us by comparison, it was nevertheless the center of much social 
and civic activity. While the legislature and Great Court were 
in session, prominent personages from all parts of the colony 
resided there with their families, and the winter season was 
passed in a round of pleasures and imposing functions. By 
reason of his connection with the Randolphs, Jefferson had easy 
access to the aristocratic set. Without the Randolphs he would 
probably have been long excluded from the fashionable circle, 
for he was a great, raw-boned, freckled-face, sandy-haired boy, 
awkward and shy. While he did not disdain the amusements 
of society, he did not forget the purpose for which he was 
spending his time and money in Williamsburg. 

William and Mary was a poor specimen of a college in those 
days. It was poorly governed and poorly equipped, and its 
teachers were all that teachers should not be. There was one 
exception to this indictment. "It was my great good fortune," 
said Jefferson in speaking of his college days, "and what prob- 
ably fixed the destinies of my life, that Dr. William Small of 
Scotland was then professor of mathematics, a man profound 
in most of the useful branches of science, with a happy talent of 
communication, correct and gentlemanly manners, and an en- 
larged and liberal mind. He, most happily for me, became 
soon attached to me and made me his daily companion, when 
not engaged in the school; and from his conversation I got 
my first views of the expansion of science and of the system 
of things in which we are placed." Dr. Small was a skeptic as 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 5 

well as a mathematician, and it was from him that Jefferson 
learned his first lessons in agnosticism.* 

By the professor the student was introduced to Francis 
Fauquier, the Lieutenant-Governor of Virginia — the ablest man, 
in Jefferson's opinion, that ever held that position. Fauquier 
was a man of the world, an imitator of the manners and a 
disciple of the philosophy of Chesterfield, a liberal host, and a 
thorough-going- sportsman, both on the turf and at the table. 
Jefferson spent much time in the company of the governor, and 
learned many things that were to be avoided and much that 
was to be imitated. A third associate was George Wythe, a 
high-principled, scholarly lawyer, who has the honor of having 
been the law preceptor of Thom.as Jefferson, John IMarshall and 
Henry Clay. These four — Dr. Small, Governor Fauquier, 
George Wythe, and "Tom" Jefferson — were the acknowledged 
intellectual leaders of Williamsburg; and who shall say that 
such a coterie was not a university in itself? It proved to be a 
university to Jefferson. From Fauquier he learned manners, 
from Wythe the meaning of scholarship, and from Dr. Small the 
habit of thinking for himself. His mind thus awakened never 
relapsed into provincial slumber. The attainments of his 
friends stimulated him to> an industry that knew no bounds. He 
sometimes studied fifteen hours a day. 

After two years of this sweet and wholesome intimacy, the 
circle was broken. Dr. Small returned to Great Britain, there 
to become famous. The heart of the college was now gone, and 
Jefferson left it to return to his home at Shadwell. He took 
with him a sound knowledge of French, Greek, Latin, and the 
higher mathematics, good health, and an open, inquisitive mind. 
Better than all, he took away with him good habits. He had 
refused to join in the governor's gaming, he had not partaken 
of his wine, and he had not learned to use tobacco.f He left 
college morally sound. 

There was one thing the youth of seventeen had brought to 
Williamsburg that the youth of nineteen did not take away 



♦See Religion, page 357; Christianity, page 152; Jesus, page 270. 
tSee Habits of Jefferson, page 237. 



6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

with him: that was his heart. Amid the social pleasures of the 
capital, he had looked long and fondly into the eyes of Rebecca 
Burwell, an heiress and a flamboyant and cruel beauty. Now 
that he was separated from her, he found that the image of the 
girl had burned itself into his soul, and that his peace of mind 
was gone. Upon leaving college he had made arrangements to 
read law under the direction of his friend Wythe, and had taken 
home his Coke and Littleton. "But to the devil with Coke; 
Coke is an old scoundrel," wrote the miserable youth to his 
friend Page. After the manner of young men in love for the 
first time, he bitterly bemoaned his fate. Numerous letters in 
which he describes his wretched condition have been preserved. 
"Inclination tells me to go," he writes to Page, "receive my 
sentence and be no longer in suspense; but reason says if you go 
and your attempt proves unsuccessful, you will be ten times 
more wretched than ever. If Belinda (a love-name for Rebecca) 
will not accept of my service, it shall never be ofifered to 
another." To be sure not! But the asseveration does credit to 
his heart. 

Sometimes he is more hopeful, as when he writes to his friend 
Fleming: "I have thought of the cleverest plan of life that can 
be imagined. You exchange lands for Edgehill, or I mine for 
Fairfields; you marry Sukey Potter, I marry Rebecca Burwell, 
join and get a pole-chair and a pair of keen horses, and drive 
about to all the dances in the country together. How do you 
like it?" A fine program, but in a few short months he wrote 
to Fleming again: "With regard to the scheme I proposed to 
you sometime since, I am sorry to tell you it is totally frus- 
trated by Miss Rebecca Burwell's marriage with Jacquelin 
Ambler." 

The young man drowTied his disappointment in dull old 
Coke. He read deeply of the law, following its histor}- back 
beyond Coke, beyond Littleton, beyond Bracton, even to its 
Anglo-Saxon origins. Abstracts from Jefferson's note-book, 
kept while he was a student of the law, have come down to us, 
and these show that he had the instincts of a scholar, patient, 
accurate and fearless in his investigations. For four years he 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 7 

pursued his law studies, spending his winters in Williamsburg 
and his summers on his estate of Shadwell. Once he left his 
books to take a journey and get a glimpse of the outside world. 
In a one-horse chaise he traveled north as far as New York, 
passing through Annapolis and Philadelphia, At the latter 
place, in obedience to his penchant for science, he had himself 
inoculated for small-pox. In New York he made the acquaint- 
ance of Elbridge Gerry, a young man whose ideals and aims 
were similar to his own. The young men conceived a deep 
regard for each other and for many years were political allies, 
Gerry being the most powerful supporter of Jefferson in New 
England. Soon after his return from this trip, Jefferson was 
admitted to the practice of the la^v at the bar of the General 
Court of Virginia. He was now in his twenty-fourth year. 

JEFFERSON AS A FARMER AND LAWYER. 

The civilization of Virginia in the eighteenth century was 
uniformly and universally rural. When Jeft'erson at the age of 
seventeen entered Williamsburg, he had never in his life seen 
a collection of houses numbering as many as a dozen. There 
were no large towns, no manufacturing industries, no inter- 
county or inter-colonial commerce. Farming was the one 
occupation of the people, and tobaccO' the one product of the 
farm. Tobacco, as has been pithily said, was king. The farms 
> — large tracts of land consisting sometimes of thousands of 
acres — were tilled by slaves. Slavery and tobacco formed the 
basis of society. Jefferson was a farmer, owned slaves, and 
impoverished his land by the cultivation of tobacco. He 
esteemed farmers as God's chosen people and he never ceased 
to praise agriculture* as the only moral and ennobling vocation. 
As the oldest son of Peter Jefferson he inherited, besides a 
number of slaves, the homestead, Shadwell — an estate of nine- 
teen hundred acres of the finest land in Virginia, situated on 
the Rivanna, a tributary of the James. When the young man 
took possession of his lands the Rivanna was unnavigable for 

*See Agriculture, page 135. 



8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

boats of any kind, but it was not long before he had its channels 
deepened and the stream rendered useful to himself and his 
neighbors — a servicef which he deemed worthy of being ranked 
among the greatest of his life. The management of the planta- 
tion was assumed by Jefferson, who throughout his life was 
what we should call, in these days, a scientific farmer. His 
"garden-book," a monument of detail and patience, shows that 
he was deeply interested in the processes of nature, and that he 
brought tO' bear the keenest obsei-vation and the most careful 
reflection upon numberless experiments in garden, orchard, and 
field. His avowed ambition was to make two blades of grass 
grow where one had grown before. Although much given to 
theory, he was sufficiently practical to make his farm pay. For 
many years it yielded him an annual income of twO' thousand 
dollars, which, combined with an income of three thousand 
dollars made by the practice of the law, enabled him by the year 
1774 to increase the number of his acres from nineteen hundred 
to five thousand and the number of his slaves from thirty to 
fifty-four. It is but just to say, however, that no slaves were 
ever bought as an investment. We shall see that Jefferson was 
quite incapable of engaging in such a traffic. 

As a lawyer Jefferson was successful fromi the beginning. He 
was no orator; he was not even an agreeable public speaker. 
When elevated, his voice grew husky and indistinct. Yet in 
other respects he was admirably qualified for the bar. His talent 
for investigation enabled him to bring his cases into court thor- 
oughly prepared, and a faculty for summarizing a case, however 
complex or vast, in a few short sentences, made it possible for 
him to dispense with the tricks of the fluent advocate. During 
the first year of his practice he had sixty cases before the Gen- 
eral Court of Virginia. The second year brought him one hun- 
dred and fifteen cases. Among his clients were the Blands, 
Burwells, Carters, Harrisons, Randolphs, Lees, Nelsons, Pages. 
He continued in a lucrative practice until 1774, when the duties 
of public office practically ended his career as an attorney. 



tSee Services of Jefferson, page 381. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 9 

Jefferson began his public life as a vestryman of the parish 
church and justice of the county court, offices which his father 
before him had filled. In 1769 he presented himself to the 
voters of Albemarle County as candidate for the House of Bur- 
gesses, an office which had also been held by his father. In 
accordance with the democratic custom of the time, the candi- 
date went from voter to voter and made personal solicitations. 
He was elected as a matter of course. Indeed, he may be said 
to have inherited the seat of his father. 

It was a critical and troublous period when he took his seat. 
Throughout the colonies there was a growing distrust of George 
III. and Parliament. Virginia imagined herself loyal, but out- 
ward forms apart, she was drifting with the general tide away 
from the home government. The great proprietors, the royal 
officers, and the clergy^ partly through interest, partly through 
affection, were unshaken in their fidelity to the old order of 
things"; but there were appearing upon the scene leaders who, 
like Otis and Adams in the north, were determined to resist to 
the last the encroachments of the crown. Jefferson fell in with 
those threatening revolution as naturally as a duck takes to 
water. He liked rebellion for its own sake. It cleared up the 
political atmosphere, he thought; a country without a rebel- 
lion,* say every century, he regarded as being in a dangerous 
way. Among his colleagues in the legislature were George 
Washington and Patrick Henry. These three men conducted 
the Revolution in Virginia. Washington was its sword, Henry 
its tongue, and Jefferson its pen. At the opening of the first 
session the member from Albemarle drafted a reply to the 
Governor's address, but his effort was rejected as being deficient 
in both style and contents. The young man was doubtless 
mortified, but his propensity to draw up addresses, constitu- 
tions, etc., was deeply rooted, and we shall find him trying his 
hand again upon the first and all succeeding occasions. 

On the Thursday after the opening of the session the House 
passed resolutions which, after denying the right of taxation 



♦See Rebellion, page 354. 



lO THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

without representation, and the right of trying accused Ameri- 
cans in EngHsh courts, declared the right of the colonies to 
concur and co-operate in seeking redress of grievances. On 
account of those resolutions Lord Botetourt, the royal Gov- 
ernor, promptly dissolved the Burgesses, who, as private citi- 
zens, immediately met in the Apollo room of the famous Raleigh 
Tavern and, following the example of Massachusetts, pledged 
themselves to refrain from trade with England until such time 
as she should show a disposition to treat the colonies justly. 
When in a few months word was brought that the English 
government had relented, and that at the next session of Par- 
liament a proposition would be made to^ remove the obnoxious 
duties, the governor reassembled the Burgesses in the hope that 
the trouble would be tided over. At this session, advancing 
about a century ahead of his time, Jefiferson introduced a bill 
making it lawful for a master to emancipate his slaves. The 
prompt and emphatic rejection of the bill caused him to: lose 
hope of the speedy settlement of the slavery question in Vir- 
ginia, but it did not shake his belief in the justice of the cause. 

In 1770 Jefiferson's home at Shad well was destroyed by fire, 
and with it his furniture, books and law-papers. Only a highly 
prized violin was rescued from, the flames. About two miles 
from the Shadwell house was a hill named by Jeiferson, Monti- 
cello* (little mount). This eminence commands a view of sur- 
passing beauty, and was chosen by Jefiferson as the site of a 
mansion that should embody his ideas of architecture — an art 
upon which he expended much thought, and in which he was 
more than an amateur. After the fire the building of a new 
house upon the "little mount" was pushed rapidly, and in some- 
thing more than a year a section was ready for occupancy. 

In 1772 Jefferson married and brought to his new mansion 
Martha Skelton, a childless widow of twenty-two, the daughter 
of John Wayles, a wealthy lawyer of Williamsburg. A story of 
the wooing is told by Randall, Jefferson's most faithful biog- 
rapher. The widow Skelton, it seems, had many suitors. "Upon 



*See Monticello, page 311. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON II 

one occasion t\vo of her admirers called and were shown into 
a room from which they heard her harpsichord and voice, 
accompanied by Mr. Jefferson's viohn and voice in the pas- 
sages of a touching song. Whether something in the words 
or in the tone of the singers offered suggestion to them, tradi- 
tion does not say, but it does aver that they took their hats 
and retired to return no more on the same errand." Jefferson 
was happy in his marriage. His wife was a woman distinguished 
by charms of mind and person, and she received from her hus- 
band an affection that was deep and imperishable. 

GETTING UNDER WAY AS A STATESMAN. 

llie Convention that assembled in Williamsburg in August, 
1774, in response to the call of the coterie of patriots that had in 
l\Iay met at the Raleigh Tavern was the first extra-legal repre- 
sentative body that met in Virginia. Among its members were 
Peyton Randolph, Patrick Henry, Benjamin Harrison and the 
Lees. Jefferson was chosen tO' represent Albemarle County, but 
on his way to Williamsburg he was taken ill and was prevented 
from attending. His influence in the Convention, however, was 
exerted through a document which he had prepared and placed 
in the hands of Randolph and Henry. This was the celebrated 
"Summary View of the Rights of British America" — a com- 
position intended to form the basis of instructions to the dele- 
gates from Virginia in the Continental Congress. Tlie manu- 
script was inspected by the members of the Convention, and was 
found to contain so much that was vigorous and convincing that 
it was printed at Williamsburg at private expense, without the 
knowledge of the author and without his name appearing. It 
was quickly reprinted in Philadelphia and also in London. The 
"Summary View^' was probably the most important political 
pamphlet published at the South in the early days of the Revolu- 
tion. It was JeiYerson's aim to "set a pace that would bring the 
front and rear ranks of his fellow countrj^men together." These 
"Instructions" show that his pace was a pretty rapid one. for 
they breathe the spirit of independence in every paragraph. 



12 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Indeed, it was the odd fortune of the writer of the Declaration 
of Independence to be accused in later years of having pilfered 
many of his ideas from the "Summary View." 

Jefferson's views were too radical for the official approbation 
of the Convention, but he seems not to have been in advance of 
the public opinion of his constituency, for upon the occasion of 
his double election tO' the Convention and to the House of 
Burgesses in July, 1774, he drew up and caused to be adopted 
by the freeholders of Albemarle County a set of resolutions in 
which the right of self-government among the colonies without 
the intervention of Parliament was strictly asserted. Other coun- 
ties passed spirited resolutions, but none were sO' spirited and 
revolutionary as these. The same citizens of Albemarle, after 
they had adopted the resolutions drawn up by their leader, 
armed themselves and threatened Lord Dunmore with punish- 
ment for stealing the powder of the colonists from the magazine 
in Williamsburg. Jefferson was doubtless behind this uprising, 
for he was the most prominent member of the Committee of 
Safety in his county. 

In March, 1775, the Virginia Convention met at Richmond 
in the parish church of St. John, Jefferson in attendance. The 
eloquence of Patrick Henry hurried the willing body into revo- 
lution. He moved that the Colony "be immediately put into a 
state of defense," and in support of his motion delivered a speech 
that set on fire the souls of his hearers and still thrills the hearts 
of American school boys. Henry's motion was carried, and a 
committee consisting of himself, R. H. Lee, R. C. Nicholas, 
Benjamin Harrison, George Washington, Edmund Pendleton 
and Thomas Jefferson was appointed to devise a plan for putting 
the colony upon a military basis. Before the Convention ad- 
journed it selected Jefferson to represent the colony in the 
Continental Congress in the place of Peyton Randolph, pro- 
viding the latter should be recalled to preside over the House 
of Burgesses. In June, 1775, Randolph was recalled, and 
Jefferson became a member of Congress. Before he took leave 
of the colonial legislature, however, he prepared a reply to Lord 
North's "Conciliatory Proposition," which had been referred 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 13 

to the Burgesses by the Grovemor for their consideration. It 
was understood throughout the colonies that Virginia was to 
make the first answer to the ministry's proposition for peace, 
and Jefferson was anxious that she should set for the other 
colonies an example of firmness and courage. The reply, passed 
by a vote "approaching unanimity," shows that the colony was 
rebellious and bent upon war, despite its protestations of loyalty 
and its oft-expressed desire for peace. Patrick Henry had 
uttered the real sentiment of his countrymen when he said: 
*'The God of Hosts is all that is left us. Gentlemen may cry 
peace, peace, but there is no peace." 

It was in a spirit of war and rebellion that Jefferson drew up 
a reply to^ the "Conciliatory Proposition," and it was in this 
spirit that he went to Philadelphia in June, 1775, to take his 
seat as a delegate to Congress. He was now thirty-two years of 
age; only two members of Congress were younger. He had 
developed into an all-round man of the world. He could "cal- 
culate an eclipse, survey an estate, tie an artery, plan an edifice, 
try a cause, break a horse, dance a minuet, and play the violin." 
His fame had preceded him in Congress. "Mr. Jefferson," 
wrote John Adams in 1822, "came to Congress in June, 1775, 
and brought with him a reputation for literature, science, and 
a happy talent for composition. Writings of his were handed 
about, remarkable for the peculiar felicity of expression." His 
pen was soon called into requisition. Congress, feeling obliged 
to give the world reasons for the rebellious scenes of Lexington 
and Bunker Hill, appointed a committee to draw up a declara- 
tion of causes for taking up arms. The report of this com- 
mittee proving unsatisfactory. Congress recommitted it and 
added Jefferson a.n4 John Dickinson to the committee. Jeffer- 
son drew up a declaration that was too strong for the conserva- 
tives. Especially was the language of the young Virginian too 
strong for John Dickinson, who had great influence in Congress 
and still cherished hopes of reconciliation. Jefferson, seeing 
there was no chance for the adoption of his own draft against 
the opposition of Dickinson, gave way. Dickinson then pre- 
pared a statement more agreeable to the less radical, although 



14 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

not less patriotic, wing of Congress. The concluding para- 
graphs of Dickinson's draft, however, are substantially copied 
from Jefferson. One passage from Jefferson's portion of the 
address is often quoted by historians on account of the ominous 
import of one of its words. "We mean hot to dissolve that 
union which has so long and so happily subsisted between us, 
and which we sincerely wish to see restored. Necessity has not 
yet driven us intO' that desperate measure." 

In July, 1775, Congress, by ballot, chose Benjamin Franklin, 
Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and R. H. Lee as a committee 
to report on Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition." Jeffer- 
son had already drawn Virginia's answer to the overture, and 
his colleagues on the committee requested him to draft the reply 
O'f Congress also. This he did to the satisfaction of the com- 
mittee, and his report with slight emendations was promptly 
adopted by Congress. In this reply of Congress he necessarily 
followed quite closely the form of reply drawn up by himself 
for the House of Burgesses of Virginia. The tone of the docu- 
ment was sullen and defiant. It held firmly to a denial of 
Parliament's right to "intermeddle with our provisions for the 
support of civil government. * * * g^^it while Parliament 
pursues its plan of civil government within its own jurisdic- 
tion, we hope also to pursue our own without molestation." 
In a few weeks hard work and an aggressive and fearless nature 
had brought Jefferson to the front in Congress. "He was so 
prompt, frank, explicit, and decisive upon committees and in 
Convention," said John Adams, "that he soon seized upon my 
heart." 

Congress adjourned in August, 1775, and Jefferson returned 
to Richmond to take his seat as the representative of Albemarle 
in the Virginia Convention. Immediately he was elected to 
represent the colony in the next Congress. The election was 
by ballot, with the following result: Peyton Randolph 89 
votes, R. H. Lee 88, Thomas Jefferson 85, Benjamin Harrison 
83, Thomas Nelson 66, Richard Bland 61, George Wythe 58. 
A question came before the Convention at this time that had for 
Jefferson a most abiding interest. It was a question of religious 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 1 5 

liberty — a thing as yet unheard of in Virginia. A petition was 
presented by the Baptists asking that Baptist ministers be 
allowed to preach to Baptist soldiers. The Convention passed 
a resolution granting their request. Jefferson's vote for the 
resolution was his first act in a movement directed by himself 
which led to the disestablishment of the church in Virginia, and 
to a general separation of Church and State in America. 

After a few days' attendance upon the Convention, Jefferson, 
sought his beloved Monticello, the scene of so much joy and 
sorrow in his life. This time sorrow darkened his stay. His 
second child, Jane, died in September. A letter written by him 
about this time to John Randolph, a kinsman whose interests 
had caused him to leave America at the outbreak of hostilities 
and take up his residence in England, reflects in clear light 
Jefferson's views upon the troublous questions of the hour. "I 
would rather be in dependence on Great Britain, properly lim- 
ited," he writes in this letter, "than on any nation on earth, or 
than on no nation. But I am one of those, too, who rather than 
submit to the rights of legislating for us assumed by the British 
Parliament, would lend my hand to sink the whole island." 
This could mean but one thing — separation. 

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE. 

Jefferson returned to Philadelphia in September to find that 
the temper of Congress accorded with his own. The king had 
spurned the petition of the Americans, had not deigned even to 
listen to it, and was making active military preparations for the 
coercion of the colonists. The Americans, on the other hand, 
were taxing all their resources in their preparation for resist- 
ance. Philadelphia, where the companies were drilling twice 
a day, was more like a camp than a peaceful Quaker town. 
News came from the North that Boston was evacuated and 
Ticonderoga captured ; from the South, that Norfolk, the largest 
city of Virginia, was burned by the British. Congress sat with 
closed doors but its members were not deaf to the alarming state 



1 6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of affairs without. They saw it was only left to them to declare 
a war that public sentiment had already declared. Necessity 
demanded an ally, and wistful eyes were cast towards England's 
historic foe. An agent of France was in Philadelphia charged 
with the mission of offering the good services of his government 
to the colonies. Congress deputed Jay, Franklin and Jefferson 
as a committee to confer with the envoy. The conference was 
successful, and was the first in a chain of events that led to the 
French alliance and to Jefferson's diplomatic career in France. 

Jefferson remained in Congress for three months serving on 
numerous committees and taking an active part in all proceed- 
ings. In December he left Philadelphia for Monticello, During 
this absence from Congress Jefferson's mother died, and it is 
generally thought that it was her illness that called him away 
from his post of duty. In May, 1776, he returned to Philadel- 
phia and entered energetically into the work of Congress. He 
found all things tending to revolution. On the day of his return 
Congress passed resolutions advising the colonies to form gov- 
ernments for themselves; five days after his return news came 
that the Virginia Convention had passed a reso'lution instruct- 
ing its delegates in Congress to support a motion declaring the 
"United Colonies free and independent States, absolved from all 
allegiance or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament of 
Great Britain." This resolution was reported by Archibald 
Cary, a kinsman of Jefferson and the man who reported for him 
the reply to the "Conciliatory Proposition" of Lord North. 
This circumstance, and the additional fact that Jefferson was 
in Virginia, and probably at the capital at the time of the pas- 
sage of the resolution, have been used as the basis of a con- 
jecture that he had a hand in the drafting and passing of this 
most important act of the Convention. If it should ever be 
proved that Jefferson was the author of that resolution, there 
will be no occasion for surprise, for it was his custom never to 
appear himself in a legislative measure when he could get some 
one else to appear for him. 

Congress promptly took up the question presented to it by 
the Virginia resolution. On June 7th R. H. Lee moved that 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 17 

the colonies be declared independent. The debate on the motion 
continued for two days; it was then deemed wise to postpone 
action for twenty days. The reason given by Jefiferson for the 
delay was that "the colonies of New York, New Jersey, Mary- 
land and South Carolina were not yet mature for falling from 
the parent stem, but that they were fast advancing to that state." 
Delay, it was tho'Ught, would give public opinion in these luke- 
warm colonies time tO' crystallize in favor of independence. The 
form of the declaration was deemed highly important, and in 
order that there might be no haste, Congress at once (June loth) 
appointed a committee consisting of Jefferson, John Adams, 
Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston 
to draft the instrument. Upon Jefferson devolved the agreeable 
task of writing the declaration. He had three w eeks to spend 
upon it, and it appears that he bestowed upon its composition 
the greatest pains. While he was thus engaged his name came 
up before the Virginia Convention for re-election, and he barely 
escaped defeat, being next to the lowest upon the list of success- 
ful delegates. On the 28th of June he brought the Declaration 
before Congress. He had previously submitted it to the com- 
mittee, who adopted it after two or three slight alterations had 
been made by John Adams and one or two by Franklin. It 
was read and laid on the table. On the first of July the original 
motion of the Virginia delegation for independence was carried 
by the vote of nine colonies. New York and Pennsylvania 
were against independence on this vote; Delaware was divided, 
and South Carolina wanted time. Time was granted, and when 
the question was put to a vote on the next day. South Carolina, 
Pennsylvania, and Delaware threw- their votes for independence. 
New York did not consent until July 9th. Having resolved 
upon independence Congress at once took up Jefferson's form 
of declaration.* 

The document w^as roughly handled, the criticism sometimes 
being so acrimonious as to cause Jefferson to wince. During 
the overhauling some of Jefferson's fine phrases were expunged; 



*See Independence, Declaration of, page 257. 



l8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

which was, of course, a good thing-. At the same time, some of 
his finest sentiments were expunged; which, perhaps, was not 
so fortunate: Jefferson hated slavery, and he had inserted in 
the declaration a round denunciation of George III. for his part 
in the encouragement of the slave trade. Congress regarded 
this in bad taste, inasmuch as the colonies, north and south, 
profited by their participation in that trade. So, through shame, 
the noblest paragraph in the declaration was omitted. In the 
original draft was a,n expression of hatred for the English, whose 
inhuman act of securing mercenaries of other countries to send 
against their American brethren "gave the last stab to agoniz- 
ing affection, and manly spirit bids us to renounce forever these 
unfeeling brethren. We must endeavor to forget our former 
love for them, and hold them as we hold the rest of mankind, 
enemies in war, in peace friends." This was expunged as being 
uncalled for. Congress made several interpolations, but did not 
in this way materially alter the document. It is generally con- 
ceded that the few changes made by Congress, both those of 
addition and omission, improved the Declaration. 

The debate continued for three days, with the prospect at 
times of it being interminable and fruitless. Jefferson became 
gloomy and anxious. At last, in the afternoon of the fourth 
of July, a comical circumstance brought the discussion to an 
end. Near the hall in which Congress sat was a livery stable 
(the story is Jefferson's), from which on that afternoon a swarm 
of vicious flies issued, and, entering through the open windows, 
attacked the thinly-covered legs of the members. Resistance 
was made with handkerchief and fan, but to little effect. The 
biting became unendurable, and the dignified body, goaded to 
distraction, hurried on to a swift and ridiculous conclusion of 
the momentous question. To escape the flies a vote was taken! 
The Declaration was adopted, four members voting against it 
and New York withholding its vote. It was signed at once by 
John Hancock, the President of Congress, and Charles Thomp- 
son, Secretary. The remaining signatures that appear upon 
the engrossed copy which is to be seen in old Independence 
Hall, Philadelphia, were affixed on August 2nd, 1776. Of the 



OF THOiMAS JEFFERSON I9 

fifty-six signers of the declaration, seven were not members of 
Congress when it passed. 

On July 5th Congress adopted a resolution ordering that the 
Declaration be sent to the several assemblies, conventions, and 
councils of safety, and to all the officers of the continental 
armies. In this way it was soon proclaimed throughout the 
United States. It met with the most enthusiastic ratification 
and adoption. From New Hampshire to Georgia there were 
bonfires, torchlight processions, the firing of guns, and ringing 
of bells. "The people," said Samuel Adams, "seemed to recog- 
nize this resolution as though it was a decree promulgated from 
heaven." 

The Declaration of Independence has been severely criticised 
both for its style and for the principles it enunciates, but its place 
among the great papers of history is secure, and criticism of it 
is becoming idle and uninteresting. That it contained nothing- 
new was perhaps the feature that won for it the affection of the 
world. Jefferson claimed nothing new- for it. When charged 
with rehashing old sentiments and copying- from Locke and 
Otis when he wrote it, he denied the charge of plagiarism, but 
acknowledged that there were no new^ ideas or new sentiments 
in it. Nevertheless, the declaration is no serv'ile imitation. It 
■vyas written from the shoulder. 'T turned to neither book nor 
pamphlet while writing it," says Jefferson, How peculiarly it 
was an embodiment of his own ideas is seen in a sentence in 
a letter to his friend Fleming, written three days before the 
Declaration was passed. "If any doubts has (sic) arisen as to 
me, my country will have my political creed in the form of the 
declaration which I was lately directed tO' draw-." Jefferson 
was brimful of ideas of reform when he WTOte the Declaration, 
and he aimed to make it a profession of his political faith. His 
faith was that of a democrat, and the Declaration of Independ- 
ence is a formal expression of the beliefs and aspirations of the 
democracy of his time. It is a remarkable paper, because it so 
successfully proclaims the spirit of the age in which it was 
written. 



20 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 



JEFFERSON AS A LAW-GIVER. 

Jefferson's interest in the affairs of Congress could not crowd 
out his interest in the affairs of his own State. Virginia, and 
not the United States, was as yet his country. When the Con- 
vention declared for independence it took steps to provide for a 
form of government for the new order of things. While Jeffer- 
son was in Philadelphia working on the great document that 
has secured his fame, he found time to prepare outlines of a 
Constitution for the new Virginia. He sent his plan tO' the 
President of the Convention, but it arrived toO' late. The con- 
struction of a new Constitution had already proceeded so far 
that it was not deemed wise to^ go back and open up for debate 
matters that had been agreed upon by the assembly after long 
discussion. Jefferson's preamble, however, written in the spirit 
of, and bearing a strong similitude to, the Declaration of Inde- 
pendence, was adopted as an amendment and prefixed to the 
new Constitution. 

We have seen that Jefferson was re-elected to Congress in 
June, 1776, but in September he resigned his seat, claiming at 
the time that the situation of his domestic affairs demanded this 
step. In the memoir of his life, written in 1820, he gives an 
entirely different reason for leaving Congress. Pie there says: 
"A meeting of the (Virginia) legislature was tO' be held in 
October and I had been elected a member by my county. I 
knew that our legislation under the regal government had many 
very vicious points which urgently required reformation, and 
I thought I could be of more use in forwarding that." What- 
ever his motives have been, wdiatever the true reason was, he 
vacated his seat in Congress and entered the Virginia legisla- 
ture. 

About this time (October, 1776) Jefferson was selected by 
Congress to go to France with Franklin and Silas Deane, for 
the purpose of effecting a treaty of alliance. It was the dream 
of his youth to visit Europe. The cause of his ill-success in 
his first love affair has been attributed to^ the fact that he asked 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 21 

the young lady to defer marriag-e until he should have spent 
several years abroad. This diplomatic appointment would 
enable him to realize his dream in an almost ideal way. ?Te 
debated long- and anxiously whether he should go or not. After 
three days of waiting, the messenger who brought word of his 
appointment returned to Congress with this answer: "It would 
argue great insensibility in me could I receive with indifference 
so confidential an appointment from your body. My thanks 
are a poor return for the partiality they have been pleased to 
entertain for me. No cares for my own person nor yet for my 
private affairs would have induced one moment's hesitation to 
accept the charge. But circumstances very peculiar to the 
situation of my family, such as neither permit me to leave or to 
cari-y it, compel me to ask leave tO' decline a service so hon- 
orable, and at the same time so^ important to the American 
cause." 

Jefiferson took his seat in the first republican House of Dele- 
gates that met in Virginia on the first day of the session, and 
entered at once upon a labor of reform that was to prove the 
greatest work of his life, and that revolutionized the public 
and private law of the State. The code of Virginia, when he and 
Wythe and Madison took hold of it to^ make it reasonable and 
human and just, was a strange pot-pourri of tyranny, cruelty 
and bigotry. Its penal code, like that of the mother country 
before the days of Bentham, was as unscientific as it was severe. 
At every coimty seat there was a pillory, a whipping-post, and 
stocks. A general law commanded the erection of these instru- 
ments of torture in the yards of all court-houses. The ducking- 
stool for babbling women could be added if such was the local 
option. The laws in force relating to religion were as intolerant 
as the age in which they had been passed — the age of the 
wrongly named "Toleration Act." To call in question the 
Trinity or to be a deist was punishable with imprisonment with- 
out bail. To be a Catholic debarred a man of the right to 
teach, to own a horse or a gun, or tO' gi\'e testimony in a court 
of law. A Protestant minister not of the Anglican faith could 
be legally drummed out of the countr}\ The right of voting 



22 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

was limited to those owning twenty-five acres of lajid with a 
house thereon, or one hundred acres without a house. In an 
incorporated city a man could not vote unless he was the owner 
of land within the city limits. Harsh naturalization laws dis- 
couraged immigration. The law of entail and primogeniture 
flourished as in England. 

Jefferson's first attack upon the old order of things was 
directed against a class to which he himself belonged — the 
aristocracy. Much of the best land of Virginia descended from 
oldest son to oldest son by way ol entail. Such land was not 
liable for debt, could not be bequeathed by will, could not be 
alienated even with the consent of the owner without special 
act of the legislature. Such a system of land tenure was op- 
posed to one of Jefferson's pet theories — tO' wit, that one genera- 
tion has no right to bind succeeding generations; that the 
usufruct of the earth belongs to the living, not to the dead. 
Entails, he said, were "contrary to good policy, tended to de- 
ceive honest traders who gave credit on the visible possession 
of such estates, discouraged the holder from improving his 
land, and sometimes did injury to the morals of youth by 
rendering them independent of and disobedient to their par- 
ents." "To annul this privilege, and, instead of an aristocracy 
of wealth, of more harm and danger than benefit to society, to 
make an opening for the aristocracy of virtue and talent," 
Jefferson introduced his bill for the abolition of entails. It 
met, of course, with the fiercest resistance. Strenuous efforts 
were made to amend the bill in such a way as tO' break its force. 
But Jefferson stood firm, and the bill passed substantially in 
the form in which he desired. Tenure by fee tail was abolished ; 
lands and slaves could no longer be prevented by law from fall- 
ing into the hands of their rightful owners. There was now but 
one prop for the landed aristocracy. That was the principle of 
primogeniture, and through the efforts of Jefferson that, too, 
was soon removed. The blow dealt by these reforms fell heavily 
on the old families and the recoil upon Jefferson was severe. 
The great land holders of the State were henceforth his bitter 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 23 

enemies, and their children and children's children became 
enemies of his memory. 

Jefferson's next measure was perhaps as important in its 
far reaching effects as the one just mentioned. He introduced 
into the legislature and carried through it a bill for the naturali- 
zation of foreigners. The conditions of becoming a citizen were 
made easier than any other government perhaps had ever before 
dared to make them. The alien was simply to show a residence 
of two years within the State, declare his intentions of remaining 
in the State, and give assurances of his good faith and loyalty. 
Minors, the children of naturalized parents, were admitted to 
citizenship without legal formalities, as were minors who came 
to x\merica without their parents. The extremely liberal 
features of this bill were embodied by Congress in its first 
naturalization law, and incorporated in all subsequent legisla- 
tions respecting citizenship. Notwithstanding the war and the 
unfavorable naturalization laws, immigrants were coming into 
Virginin at this time by thousands and it was not an unwise 
political move upon the part of Jefferson to come forward as 
the champion of the strangers' rights in their new home. It is 
not suggested, however, that he was induced by ulterior political 
reasons to introduce the bill. Easy naturalization* and easy 
expatriation t were a part of his general theor}^ of easy govern- 
ment. 

The next act of Jefferson in the legislature was one that he 
regarded — and students of politics will agree with him — as 
being of more importance than the Declaration of Independ- 
ence. He brought up the subject of religious liberty, attempt- 
ing to secure the enactment of the following just and compre- 
hensive law: '"'No man shall be compelled to frequent or support 
any religious worship, ministry, or place whatsoever; nor shall 
be enforced, restrained, molested, or burdened in his body or 
goods; nor shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious 
opinions or belief; but all men shall be free to profess, and by 
argument to maintain, their opinion in matters of religion; and 



*See Naturalization, page 314. 
tSee Expatriation, page 212. 



24 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge or affect their civil 
capacities." 

The advocacy ol this measure brought on the bitterest contest 
in which Jefferson was ever engaged. It was the beginning of 
his long warfare with the clergy. In terms peculiar to theolog- 
ical combat he was denounced as the enemy of religion and as 
an atheist. The clergy at first were successful. The bill failed 
to pass. Some of its provisions, however, were acceded to by 
the legislature. The law declaring unorthodox opinion to bt 
criminal was repealed, attendance at church was made voluntary 
and dissenters were allowed to withhold their contributions fro^m 
the Episcopal Church. These were substantial gains, but they 
were far from religious liberty as aimed at by Jefferson. For 
three years he fought for the complete separation of Church 
and State, and then, being called to a higher station, he left his 
plans in the hands of his able and indispensable coadjutors, 
George Wythe, and his young disciple, James Madison. In 
1786, after a struggle of ten years, Jefferson had the supreme 
satisfaction of seeing his bill pass without material change. 

He did not over-estimate the importance of his efforts in 
behalf of religious liberty.* If the Republic of the United 
States is new in any important sense, if it has introduced any- 
thing really novel among human institutions, that new thing is 
the separation of Church and State. The v.'orld has had its de- 
mocracies, its republics, its governments with a trinal division of 
povvcrs, its representative systems, but it has never before 
known such a thing as a free state existing side by side with a 
free church, and along with this an almost perfect freedom of 
religious opinion. This is what Virginia needed and what the 
United States needed, and Jefferson saw the need more clearly 
than any man of his time. 

The man who wrote the words "all men are created equal" 
could not but be expected tO' chafe under the institutions of 
slavery. Jefferson was an abolitionist in theory, but practical 
abolition presented insuperable objections to his mind. His 



*See Religion, page 357. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 25 

plan was to bring- about the freedom of the neg^roes by gradual 
emancipation.* He drew up and offered a bill preventing the 
further importation of slaves by sea or land. This bill, which 
readily passed, was intended as the first of a series that should 
remove every vestige of slavery! from the State. His scheme, 
briefly stated, was to regard as lawfully free all slave-born 
children, to educate them at the public expense, and when 
they were g"rown, tO' transplant them tO' some distant and 
isolated colony where they might enjoy under a mild protector- 
ate the privileges of self-government. He did not believe that 
the negrO' could live as a free man side by side with the white 
man, but he did most sincerel}'' believe that he ought to be free. 
And he believed that he would be free. "Nothing," he said, 
"was more clearly written in the book of fate." Very little 
nevertheless, came of his elaborate scheme for emancipation. 
"The public mind would not bear it," he said; and it does not 
appear that after the Revolutionary period he was ever very 
industrious in his efforts to prepare the public mind to bear it. 

A bill that was dearer even tO' Jefferson's heart than that for 
the freedom of the slaves was one for the diffusion of knowl- 
edge.J He saw that a democracy must rest upon the enlighten- 
ment of the masses and he brought fo^rward his system; free 
elementary schools for all the children of the State for a term 
of three years; high schools at convenient places for superior 
and ambitious youths; a State university at the top. INIany 
States of the Union have adopted this system, but Virginia 
was not prepared for it when Jefferson proposed it. The 
measure failed in the legislature more completely than any of 
its author's cherished reforms. 

Early in 1777 Jefferson proposed to the legislature a com- 
plete revision of the laws of Virginia. The proposal was 
adopted, and he was appointed chairman of the revising com- 
mittee. His colleagues on the committee were Edmund 
Pendleton, George Wythe, George Mason and T. L. Lee. 



*See Emancipation, page 201. 
tSee Slavery, page 382. 
tSee Education, page 194. 



26 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Mason resigned on the gronnd tliat he was not a lawyer, and 
Lee soon died. The w^ork, therefore, fell upon Jefferson, 
Pendleton and Wythe, and as Pendleton was not skilful at 
such business, the burden of the task fell upon Jefferson and 
his old law preceptor. For two years these two worked upon 
the revision, going over the whole body of British and colonial 
statutes, and extracting therefrom a concise and coherent 
system of law for the future government of Virginia. The 
report of the revisers consisted of one hundred and twenty-six 
bills, but these w"ere not adopted in a mass. Bills included in 
the revision w^ere taken up from time to time and passed as 
the temper of the legislature permitted and the needs of the 
hour demanded. In 1785 the report was taken up systemat- 
ically. Jefferson was far away from Virginia at this time, but 
he had left his work in faithful hands. Through the persistent 
efforts of his youthful neighbor and political ally, James Madi- 
son, most of the work of the revision was enacted into law. 

JEFFERSON AS GOVERNOR OF VIRGINIA. 

In 1779, at the age of thirty-six, Jefferson w"as elected Gov- 
ernor of Virginia by the legislature of the State. His rival 
for the honor was the trusted friend of his youth, John Page, 
one of the wealthiest men in Virginia and an ardent patriot. 
The contest was conducted in the most decent manner imagin- 
able, and ended with good humor on both sides. Page sent 
his successful friend a note of congratulation and good wishes. 
Jefferson's reply is a model of delicacy and tact. "It had given 
me much pain," he said, "that the zeal of our respective friends 
should have ever placed us in the situation of competitors. I 
was comforted, how^ever, with the reflection that it was their 
competition, not ours, and that the difference of the numbers 
which decided between us was too insignificant tO' give you a 
pain or me a pleasure, had our dispositions toward each other 
been such as to admit these sensations." Page had a long and 
honorable public career, and lived to see the day when it was 
Jefferson's time to congratulate him as Governor ol Virginia. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 27 

The two remained close friends, and when Jefferson was 
President he took special pains to provide Pag-e with a profitable 
sinecure. 

When he took his seat as Governor on June ist, 1779, Virginia 
was in a sad plight. Tlie French alliance, which had just been 
concluded, had aroused England to a bitter and cruel policy, 
and had not as yet aroused a corresponding zeal in America. 
If America was tO' become an accession tO' France, it was the 
interest of England, her commissioners declared, to render 
that accession of as little avail as possible. Pillage and the 
torch and extermination were now to be the means of subjuga- 
tion. The brunt of the new warfare was tO' be borne by the 
South. The fairest scene for the ravaging of the invader was 
Virginia. On the west — and her western frontier extended to 
the Mississippi — ^the Indians incited by English agents were 
threatening to cross the Alleghanies and destroy the civilization 
of the border counties. On the east, broad, deep streams in- 
vited British men-of-war to ascend and efface the important 
places of the State, for there were no boats and no forts to pre- 
vent them. On the south the armies of Cornwallis were harry-- 
ing the Carolinas and pressing hard upon the border. At the 
North was Washington, calling for assistance. 

The State was helpless tO' resist an invasion. Her four armed 
vessels, which mounted in all but sixty-twO' guns, were so poorly 
manned that they were practically useless. Her militia, con- 
sidering the vast area tO' be defended, was very small; worse 
still, it was inexperienced; and worst of all, it was wretchedly 
supplied with the munitions of war. Tliere was but one good 
gun for four or five men. There were no saddles, blankets, 
tents, and there was no money with which to^ buy these things. 
The normal military resources of the State had been exhausted 
in responding to the call of Washington and Congress. 

To defend the State successfully in such circumstances re- 
quired a great administrator and a great warrior, and Jefferson 
was neither. He was the author of some pleasing speculations 
in political science, he was a bold reformer of the jurisprudence 
of his State, but he had never been tested for practical states- 



28 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

manship. He entered upon his arduous duties with decision 
and energ}% and for a year at least his administration moved 
along fairly well. In the west the brilliant George Rogers 
Clarke captured Colonel Hamilton, the English leader of the 
Indians, and sent him in chains to Jefferson. The captive was a 
dangerous man and had inflicted wanton barbarities upon the 
Americans. Jefferson, in retaliation, chained him and threw him 
into a dungeon. Protests arose, and the Governor bending to 
Washington's judgment finally unshackled the prisoner and ad- 
mitted him to parole. The capture of Hamilton and his forces 
was a most fortunate event for Virginia, for it freed her western 
border from the danger of Indian incursions; it was also fortun- 
ate for the American cause, for it secured to the Americans the 
possession of a vast area (the North West Territory) that other- 
wise would have been claimed by the English when settling the 
terms of the treaty of peace. 

Jefferson's first year in office passed without disaster, and 
he was re-elected for a second term. Serious troubles now began. 
The enemy was pressing hard upon the southern border and the 
most strenuous action was imperative. Gates went south in 
1780 to take command, and it was Jefferson's judgment that 
if Virginia was to be saved from the scourge of a ruthless 
invasion it must be through Gates. All his efforts, therefore^ 
were directed toward strengthening the hands of that general 
in the Carclinas. The counties were scoured for men; wagons 
(including those of the Governor) were impressed into service; 
blacksmith shops were converted into armories; ladies were 
asked — and not in vain — to contribute their jewels to the cause. 
But all this exertion came to naught. In August, 1780, Gates 
was defeated with shame and disaster at Camden, South Caro- 
lina, and the march of the enemy northward, although impeded, 
could not be checked. In October a British fleet of sixty ves- 
sels, with three thousand regulars under General Leslie, sailed 
into Hampton Roads, where they remained waiting for a junc- 
tion with Comwallis. Greene and the yeomanry of North 
Carolina were making traveling slow and difficult for that 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 29 

officer, and Leslie, after waiting a month, sailed away with his 
whole armament. 

Early in January (1781) news came to Richmond — the little 
town had just become the capital of the State' — that the British 
fleet had again entered the Chesapeake and was ascending the 
James. Jefferson called out the militia and began to move the 
public property to Westham, a village on the James above the 
head of navigation. The foe was under the command of the 
once brilliant but now cautious and feeble Benedict Arnold. 
There was not a handful of raw militia to oppose his regulars, 
and resistance would have been a mockery. No resistance was 
offered, and the region lay at the mercy of the traitor. He 
looted the town of all its military stores and of such public 
property as Jefferson had failed tO' save. After remaining in. 
Richmond for one day, he then dropped down the James, 
plundering as he went. In the consternation that prevailed 
personal safety was the law of the hour. The members of the 
Governor's Council and of the assembly gave up all to save 
their families and themselves. Jefferson was indefatigable in 
supen-ising the removal of the military stores and public prop- 
erty. Having accompanied his family on their way to a place 
of safety, he turned back and was pushing on to Manchester 
when his horse sank dead beneath him. With the saddle and 
bridle on his back he went to a farm house near by and secured 
an unbroken colt. His excellent horsemanship now^ stood him 
jin good stead. He mounted the colt and sped on. In his six 
days' absence from Richmond, he was eighty-four hours in the 
saddle. 

Upon the departure of Arnold, Jefferson and the legislature 
returned to Richmond and resumed the business of government. 
But civil government was now at an end in Virginia. Corn- 
wallis and Tarleton had crossed the border and were conducting 
a warfare unworthy of their race and their own better natures. 
The legislature conferred almost absolute power upon Jeffer- 
son, but this availed little. What was needed was muskets, 
and these could not be procured, for there was no money with 
which to buy them, and th.crc were no factories in which they 



30 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

could be made. Jefferson felt his helplessness and longed for 
the day when his tenure of office should cease. His term 
expired on June ist, 1781, but the Assembly, then trying to hold 
sessions at Charlottesville near Monticello, neglected to choose a 
successor, and for twelve days Virginia was without a Governor. 
A party arose advocating a dictator for the crisis. This plan 
Jefferson opposed with all his might. "Tlie very thought," he 
declared, "was treason against the people, was treason against 
mankind in general." Whether Jefferson could have been 
elected for a third term or not is problematical. In the legisla- 
ture there was considerable muttering. One member openly 
charged the Governor with incompetency. Jefferson removed 
the question of his re-election by declining to serve further. 
Through his influence his friend General Nelson was chosen as 
his successor. Supreme military power was conferred upon 
Nelson, but he proved to be as powerless as Jefferson to bring 
relief fromi the invader, and his dictatorial power only served 
to make him unpopular. In a few months he threw up his 
office in disgust. There was no relief until Washinpton should 
come down from the north. 

The day after his term of office expired, Jefferson was visited 
at his home at Monticello' by a body of raiders detached by 
Tarleton. The object of the visit was to carry away Jefferson 
as a rich prize of war, but a lucky circumstance balked the 
enterprise. Jefferson having been warned that the enemy was 
coming to Monticello', put his family into safe hands and prompt- 
ly sent it away. He was perfectly cool in the midst of alarms. 
He lingered to save some of his cherished papers. After remain- 
ing as long as he thought prudent, he went to his blacksmith 
shop to get his horse, which he had ordered to be shod fresh for 
a hard run. Before mounting he ascended the hill a little 
wa}^, and at a favorite spot, with the aid of his telescope he 
surveyed Charlottesville and the whole region round about, and 
could see no trace of an enemy. He listened, and there was per- 
fect stillness. Concluding that the alarm was false, he deter- 
mined to return to his mansion and save a few more of his 
papers. He had gone toward the house but a little way when 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 31 

he noticed that in kneeling to level his telescope, his light 
walking sword had slipped from its sheath. He returned to 
where he had used his spy-glass. While there he took another 
look, and saw that Charlottesville was overrun with British 
soldiers. He mounted his horse and escaped. If he had re- 
turned to his mansion, as was his original intention, he would 
surely have been captured, for the troopers by an unsuspected 
route had entered his doors five minutes after his departure. 

The mansion at Monticello, thanks tO' Tarleton's orders, 
escaped serious pillage or damage. Though the house itself 
was not plundered or burnt, the rest of Governor Jefferson's 
property suffered severely at the hands of the enemy. All the 
stock and farm, products that might be of service were carried 
off, the rest being wantonly destroyed. Jefferson was especially 
outraged at the treatment of his slaves. Twenty-seven of these 
were carried off by Cornwallis. Most of them returned after- 
wards, but died of a pestilence contracted while in captivity. 
The dislike of England that showed itself so emphatically in 
Jefferson's subsequent career may be ascribed largely to Co'rn- 
wallis' general devastation of Virginia, his own experience of 
wanton outrage lending a personal tinge to his bitterness. 

On October 19th, 1781, the ravages of Cornwallis were brought 
to an end at Yorktown, and peace and civil law resumed their 
sway in Virginia. But victory did not bring peace to Jefferson's 
mind. The public disapprobation* of his conduct as Governor 
continued to disturb him long after every one else had ceased 
to think of the matter. He would not rest without what we 
should call a "vindication." He had himself elected from Albe- 
marle to the Assembly expressly that he might in person meet 
certain charges that it was said would be brought against him. 
At the proper time he arose and asked for the charges. No one 
had any charges to make. "Not a word was heard in reply." 
Jefferson then made a statement exculpating himself from every 
real and fancied charge. The legislature was in the kindest 
humor with him — it was just two months after Yorktown — and 



*See Approbation, page 140. 



^2 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

it ougiit to have been, for many of its members had run from 
Arnold faster than he. It accordingly in all sincerity promptly 
passed without a dissenting voice a resolution thanking Thomas 
Jefferson, Esquire, for his impartial, upright and attentive ad- 
ministration while in office, and declaring in the strongest 
manner that it entertained a high opinion of his ability, recti- 
tude and integrity as chief magistrate of the Commonwealth. 
For all that, his career as Governor was a sore point with 
Jefferson. In his Memoir the only thing he relates of the period 
of his governorship concerns his connection with William and 
Mary College, to which institution he was appointed visitor in 
1779. He skips his administration completely, saying that to 
write his own history of these two years would be to write a 
history of the revolution in Virginia for the period. In omitting 
this subject Jefferson showed good taste, but his reasons for so 
doing convict him of a conspicuous inconsistency, for he wrote 
copiously of himself in all other public capacities. 

Early in 1782 Jefferson left the legislature. Though his 
exculpation had been complete, yet continued brooding over 
the attacks upon him induced a morbid state of mind, which 
practically withdrew him from all association with the world. 
This course was severely criticised by his enemies, and to his 
friends it was a source of deep regret. Colonel Monroe, a 
neighbor, ventured in the name of friendship' tO' attempt to 
recall him to more healthy views of life; but his appeals were 
of no avail, for they reached Jefferson while he was experiencing 
the deepest sorrow of his life. In September, 1782, his v.ife, 
who had been in failing health since she fled from Richmond 
on Arnold's approach, expired. The blow was no less pros- 
trating for being expected, and he abandoned himself to an 
excess of grief. 

Two months after, JefTerson was appointed by Congress- a 
Plenipotentiary to Europe. Madison had been instrumental in 
bringing about the appointment. He wrote that the death of 
his wife had probably changed the sentiment of Mr. Jefferson 
with regard to public life, and that all the reasons which had led 
to his original appointment still existed. In June, 1781, the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 33 

same post had been offered to Jefferson, but he had refused to 
serve, preferring to return to the legislature to clear himself 
of any charges that might be brought against him. He now 
accepted the appointment for reasons afterward stated in his 
Memoir. "I had, two months before that, lost the cherished 
companion of my life, in whose affections, unabated on both 
sides, I had lived the last ten years in unchequered happiness. 
With the pubhc interests the state of my mind concurred in 
recommending the change of scene proposed." 

Though Jefferson at once set tO' work to put his private 
affairs in order, the purposes of the mission were so far ad- 
vanced by the spring of 1783 that there was no necessity for 
him to sail. Tlie appointment, however, was of the utmost 
consequence in his life. It presented new interests and lifted 
him from the gloom intO' which he had allowed himself to sink. 

In June, 1783, he was elected to Congress. He soon resumed 
the influence and activity of former sessions and acquired a 
leadership which, in view of the ability of his colleagues, is not 
to be rated cheaply. He served on every important committee, 
and was chairman of the committees on the Peace Treaty, on 
the Treasury, on the Public Debt, and on Commercial Relations 
with the nations of Europe. He headed his fellow-delegates in 
the execution of the deed by which Virginia ceded tO' the gen- 
eral government the entire Territory of the Northwest; and it 
was with peculiar pleasure that he thus saw consummated a 
measure due so largely to his own initiation. His plan for the 
government of this TerritO'r}^ submitted by him to Congress 
late in the session, was one of his greatest contributions to our 
political history. Briefly speaking, it provided for the develop- 
ment, along lines of local self-government, of all acquired terri- 
tory, and assured the ultimate statehood of each growing com- 
munity in the West. In his plan no detail was neglected. The 
names (many of them absurdly fanciful) and boundaries of the 
States were proposed, and the nature of the temporary govern- 
ment to be established in them; and the conditions of their 
admission to full statehood were all clearly laid down. Among 
these conditions by far the most important and far-reaching was 



34 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the clause prohibiting, in those States, after 1800, slavery or 
involuntary servitude. This clause killed the plan for the time 
being, but the matter was taken up again in 1787, and a bill was 
passed following Jefferson's original draft. 

It was at this session of Congress that the subject of coinage 
and of the money unit came up before the Committee on 
Finance, of which Jefferson was a member. He considered the 
unit proposed by Mr. Morris, the financier (the fourteen hundred 
and fortieth part of a dollar) as ''toO' minute for ordinary use, 
and too laborious for computation, either by the head or in 
figures," and suggested a modification that was adopted by 
Congress. He also' proposed four coins in the decimal ratio — 
viz., the gold piece of ten dollars, the silver dollar, the silver 
tenth of a dollar, and the copper hundredth of a dollar.* 

JEFFERSON IN FRANCE. 

In May, 1784, Congress for the fourth time appointed Jeffer- 
son to a foreign post. The chief duty assigned him was to 
negotiate treaties of commerce with foreign nations, and John 
Adams and Benjamin Franklin were his colleagues. He reached 
Paris, his official residence, on the 6th of August, accompanied 
by his eldest daughter, Martha. He placed her at a fashionable 
convent school and entered upon his duties. In the strict 
fulfilment of their mission, Jefferson and his colleagues had at 
first but poor results to show. In France the Farmers General, 
into whose hands monopolies granted by the crown had put 
absolute control of all imports, had toO' strong a grip to be 
broken. American products, especially tobacco, came ex- 
clusively under their control. What is more, Jefferson derived 
no substantial benefit from the additional powers conferred on 
him when, in 1785, he formally succeeded Franklin as Minister 
Plenipotentiary to the court of France. Adams had some 
months previously been sent to the court of England and Jef- 
ferson was left in France as the sole representative of his coun- 



*See Money, page 309. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 35 

try. In all matters which did not concern the immemorial privi- 
leges of monopolies, his intercourse with the French Govern- 
ment was cordial and successful. He had many claims to 
recognition which would have been lacking in any other 
American of the day, with the sole exception of Franklin. He 
was known personally to many French officers, and had enter- 
tained at Monticello Frenchmen of eminent attainments in civil 
life. His State papers had had wide circulation; and the publi- 
cation of his "Notes on "Virginia," soon after his arrival in 
Paris, confirmed the popular opinion of him as a man of power, 
and a happy and forceful writer. His manners were frank, 
graceful, and genial. Above all, he was known to be thoroughly 
in accord with those sentiments of liberty and of national rights 
at that time so popular among even the nobility of France. 

But, however much these advantages ser\-ed him, he still 
had to confront manifold prejudices in all that concerned com- 
merce. He had to meet formal complaints presented by the 
French ministers against the conduct of certain individual States 
of the American Confederation touching the treaty with France. 
It was broadly intimated that in consequence of the separate 
action of certain .States, arrangements with them, as a whole, 
could not be depended upon. A vicious system of over-trading 
in Europe, pursued by too many Americans after the Peace of 
1783, brought results which completely blocked anything like 
a secure and advantageous treaty of commerce. Even in France 
much doubt of America's credit prevailed. In England, Adams 
was subjected to repeated humiliation on this score, for the 
whole American people were there indiscriminately branded as 
cheats and swindlers. Jefiferson, on the single occasion of his 
presentation at the English court, fancied that he himself was 
the object of this feeling. He felt that "it was impossible for 
anything to be more ungracious than the royal notice of Mr. 
Adams and himself." In a letter of January, 1786, he concisely 
sketched the causes of America's unsavor}' reputation. "Two 
circumstances are particularly objected to us; the non-payment 
of our debts, and the want of energy in our government. These 
discourage a connection with us." And he wrote his old friend, 



36 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Gov. Page (May, 1786): "I consider the extravagance which 
has seized them (my countrymen) as a more baneful evil than 
Toryism was during the war. It is the more so, as the example 
is set by the best and most amiable characters among us. * * 
These things have been more deeply impressed on my mind by 
what I have seen and heard in England. That nation hates 
us, their ministers hate us, and their King, more than all other 
men. * * * Our overtures of commercial arrangements 
have been treated with a derision which shows their firm per- 
suasion, that we shall never unite to suppress their commerce 
or even impede it." 

In France, Jefferson finally secured, by the most indefatigable 
exertions, some important advantages tO' American commerce. 
The new^ regulations, called the ''Ordinance of Beruis," sup- 
pressed many duties on American products, abolished certain 
others for specific periods, and in general made concessions such 
as were granted to nO' other country besides America. The 
moral effects of the treaty were, to Jefferson, more important 
than the material results secured. He wrote Jay concerning it, 
in October, 1786: "It furnished a proof of the disposition of the 
King and his ministers tO' produce a more intimate intercourse 
between the two nations. Indeed, I must say that as far as I 
am able to see, the friendship of the people of this country 
toward us is cordial and general, and that it is a kind of security 
for the friendship of ministers who cannot, in any country, be 
uninfluenced by the voice of the people." 

Jefferson's attention was drawn to a matter which afterwards 
became a problem of national importance. This related to the 
course to be pursued toward the Barbary powers. Every sea- 
faring country of Europe had long submitted to the capture and 
confiscation of vessels flying their flag, and the holding of the 
crews for ransom. An American vessel was now, for the first 
time, subjected to this treatment. Adams and Jefferson, after 
consulting together, took opposite sides of the question. Jef- 
ferson took strong ground for forcibly putting a stop to such 
outrages; and in his request for instructions from Congress urged 
this course. But the negotiations were long drawn out, and 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 37 

nothing- was decided upon Ijefore Jefferson returned to America. 
In a letter to Jay, of August, 1785, he argues for a naval force, 
"that being the only weapon by which w'e can reach an enemy." 
To the re-establishment of a navy* he saw objections; but in 
view of the aptitude of the American nation for seafaring and 
"their determination to continue as carriers on the water," these 
objections were more than offset by the advantages accruing. 

Though removed from the immediate scene, his interest in 
the affairs of his native State was in no wise abated. He ar- 
ranged for procuring a statue of General AVashington. He 
consulted architects and furnished plans for a State-house in 
Richmond. Several letters passed between him and Genera! 
Washington on the subject of improving the navigation of the 
Potomac and of running a canal through the Dismal Swamp. 
He followed the rise and growth of the desire on the part of the 
people of Kentucky to separate from Virginia, and satisfied him- 
self that "the separation was expedient whenever the people of 
Kentucky should have agreed among themselves." 

In national affairs, Jefferson, through his correspondence, 
kept himself thoroughly familiar with each step in the formation 
and adoption of the Constitution. f His attitude on the subject 
of the Constitution was afterwards much misrepresented by his 
political opponents. The charge that he had opposed its adop- 
tion had no foundation. Though jealous for the State and for 
the integrity of its powers, no man appreciated better than he 
the urgent need of a general government of greater power and 
more compact form than the slipshod Congress of Revolu- 
tionary and post-Revolutionary days. 

Jefferson did not confine his stay to Paris. In the second 
year of his residence abroad he crossed the channel and spent 
nearly two months in England, chiefly in the rural districts. In 
the hope that the waters of Aix in southern France would build 
up his health, which had been depleted by the breaking of his 
right wrist, he journeyed to that watering place. His route 
carried him up the Seine and down the Saone and the Rhone, 



*See Navy, page 316. 

tSee Constitution, page 167. 



38 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

and the journey consumed the better part of the three spring 
months of 1787. It was at this time that he crossed the boun- 
daries of Italy and went as far as Genoa. In the next year he 
went, by engagement, to meet Adams at Amsterdam, and when 
their business was dispatched, proceeded up the Rhine as far 
as Strassburg. Everywhere he noted the people, their condi- 
tion, habits, and daily occupations; and no economic question 
dependent upon soil, climate, or products escaped his eager 
inquiry. While in Italy he found an excellent species of rice. 
When he attempted to get a small quantity of this for introduc- 
tion into America, he found its exportation was forbidden by 
law. But his love for science. did not allow him to be baffled. 
He purchased a sack and bribed a muleteer to smuggle it over 
the borders. 

The extremely practical character of his travels is shown in 
a letter tO' General Lafayette: *Tn the great cities I go to see 
what travelers think alone worthy of being seen; but I make 
a job of it, and generally gulp it down in a day. On the other 
hand, I am never satiated with rambling through the fields and 
farms, examining the culture and cultivators with a degree of 
curiosity which makes some take me for a fool and others to be 
much wiser than I am. * * * j think you have not made 
this journey. It will be a great comfort to you to know from 
your own inspection the condition of all the provinces of your 
own country. This is perhaps the only moment of your life in 
which you can acquire that knowledge. And to do it most 
effectually you must be absolutely incognito. * * * You 
will feel a sublime pleasure in the course of this investigation, 
and a sublime one hereafter when you shall be able to apply 
your knowledge to the softening of their beds or the throwing 
a morsel of meat into their kettle of vegetables." 

His correspondence is full of the freest expressions of opinion 
on all he saw and learned in Europe. The range of subjects 
treated, the number of letters, and the length of most of them, 
are little short of marvelous, and bear testimony to the system 
and to the unwearying energy with which he worked. To 
different persons he sent new astronomical discoveries and cal- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 39 

culations; he described improvements in musical instruments; 
narrated explorations by savants into the domain of natural 
history; sent descriptions of specimens of architecture; ex- 
pressed his opinions on statues and paintings, and gave faithful 
accounts of agriculture and mechanical inventions. 

Political and social conditions in every country and district 
he visited found in him the shrewdest observer, and the most 
painstaking recorder. The highest tribute that can be paid to 
the correspondence of any man can be paid to that of Jefferson 
at this period. Most of his letters are fresh and readable even at 
this day. 

Foreign travel taught Jefferson a lesson which it would be 
well if all American travelers could learn. He was quick to see 
the excellences of other countries, though not less quick to see 
their shortcomings. The more he saw of other countries, the 
more highly he appreciated the superiority of his own. He 
never ceased to make the abuses of the civilization of Europe, 
and even of England, a text from which to preach the education 
of the masses of his own country. This spirit was especially 
characteristic of his attitude toward France. It must be remem- 
bered that he saw that country under conditions never paral- 
leled in the history of the world. From the meeting of the 
Assembly of Notables, in February, 1787, he followed step by 
step the follies and defeats of the Crowoi and Nobility, until he 
saw armed conflict in the streets of Paris and the fall of the 
Bastile. In his Memoir, thirty years later, he wrote of these 
events; and though he had then clearly before him the horrors 
to which they subsequently led, yet his faith was not shaken in 
the ultimate good to humanity that resulted from the Revo- 
lution.* 

Notwithstanding his intense interest in passing affairs, Jeffer- 
son's conduct as minister was most discreet. Though his house 
was frequented by men of all shades of opinion, his sense of the 
duties of an Ambassador did not suffer him to meddle in any 
matter which concerned merely the existing institutions of the 



*See French Revolution, page 220. 



40 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

country to which he had been sent. It might at first seem 
that an important exception to this rule of conduct would have 
to be made when Jefferson's relations with Lafayette are con- 
sidered. Lafayette's perplexities as to the course he should 
pursue grew largely out of the sentiments in favor of popular 
movements acquired by his service in America, and they natu- 
rally appealed to Jefferson's deepest sympathy. He allowed 
himself to be drawn into giving advice by letter as well as orally 
tO' Lafayette and other Constitutionalists, on the proper form 
into which the new government of France should be thrown. 
Finally, the conflict between' the monarchy and the popular 
party assumed most unexpectedly a phase which, in Jefferson's 
opinion, justified his interposing as a lover of human liberty. 
"I considered," he says, "a successful reformation of govern- 
ment in France as insuring a general reformation through 
Europe, and the resurrection, to a new life, of their people now 
ground to dust by the abuses of the governing powers. * * * 
I urged, most strenuonsly, an immediate compromise." He 
reduced his ideas tO' definite form in the shape of a Charter of 
Rights, to be signed by the King and every member of the 
three orders of the Assembly. This instrument he sent to M. 
de St. Etienne, a prominent member of the Third Estate, and a 
close friend of the Marquis de Lafayette. It was not adopted, 
but it led to Jefferson's being requested to attend and assist 
in the deliberations of the committee appointed to draft a Con- 
stitution. Jefferson was always ready to draw up' a Constitution, 
but on this occasion his great good sense asserted itself. He 
excused himself from complying with this request, but he did 
receive at his own house "a number," tO' give his own words, 
''of leading patriots of honest but differing opinions, sensible of 
the necessity of effecting a condition by mutual sacrifices, know- 
ing each other, and not afraid, therefore, to unbosom themselves 
mutually." The residence of the American minister was cer- 
tainly not the place at which the legislators of France should 
meet, and Jefferson was quick to recognize the fact. His own 
words tell us how he counteracted his indiscretion. "Duties of 
exculpation were now incumbent on me. I waited on Count 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 41 

Montmorin the next morning, and explained to him with truth 
and candor how it had happened that my house had been made 
the scene of conferences of such a character. He told me he 
already knew everything which had passed, that so far from 
taking umbrage at the use made of my house on that occasion, 
he earnestly wished I would habitually assist at such confer- 
ences, being sure I should be useful in moderating the warmer 
spirits, and promoting a wholesome and practicable reformation 
only." 

In the autumn of 1788 Jefiferson had asked for a leave of 
absence for six months. He wished to return to America, where 
his private affairs demanded his attention. He felt also that his 
daughters should be placed amid the surroundings in which 
their lives were to be passed. Legitimate ambition, also, may 
have had much to do- with his wish to look again upon the 
current of home politics. It was, however, to be only a look, 
for he left France with the intention of being absent no longer 
than the time specified. His request was granted, and in 
October, 1789, he set sail for America. Two months later he 
reached Monticello, after an absence of five years. 

JEFFERSON AS SECRETARY OF STATE. 

On Jefferson's arrival in America he found awaiting him 
from President Washington an offer of the Secretaryship of 
State. For some months he hesitated to accept it, nor was this 
hesitation feigned. He was by no means insensible to the honor 
paid him, and his deep reverence for Washington moved him to 
immediate acceptance. There were, however, deterrent reasons 
not to be passed over lightly. He had acquired skill and self- 
confidence in the duties of Ambassador to France; and, above 
all things, his ardent wish was tO' follow as a spectator the course 
of the French Revokition. To accept the office now tendered 
him would put upon him more onerous duties, and he had real 
apprehensions of his lack of famiUarity with the routine duties 
required. Mr. Madison, at the President's request, visited him, 
and by his representations re-enforced Washington's appeals. 



42 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Jefferson yielded to their combined wishes, and in March, 1790, 
arrived in New York City, then the seat of government, to enter 
upon the discharge of his duties. 

The colleagues whom he found already serving in the Cabinet 
were Alexander Hamilton of New York, Secretary of the Treas- 
ury; Henry Knox of Massachusetts, Secretary of War; and 
Edmund Randolph of Virginia, Attorney-General. 

In vigor of intellect, self-confidence, and experience in public 
affairs, Jefferson immediately took his place by the side of Ham- 
ilton. These twO' became the dominant figures of the Cabinet, 
the other two members merely reflecting their views. They 
differed radically in their ideas of finance, of government,* and 
even of the constitution of society. That Washington should 
bring them together as his official advisers excited no suspicion 
that their lack of harmony might interfere with their successful 
co-operation. His cherished wish was to obviate factional strife 
by giving representation to the diverse political elements. The 
idea, though afterwards found impossible to realize, was typical 
of his moral grandeur. 

Hamilton and Jefferson now met personally for the first time. 
Their relations in the beginning were pleasant, for each was 
disposed to look upon the other without prejudice. Each was 
genial in Jumper and manners, frank, and not given to duplicity. 
Their outward friendliness lasted longer than would have been 
the case had not circumstances delayed the occasion of their 
first decided difference. While the President, on general ques- 
tions, took the opinion of the entire Cabinet, on questions which 
pertairied especially to one department, he consulted only the 
head of that department. Questions of finance, upon which 
Jefferson and Hamilton would soonest have differed, were 
especially subject to this rule. The Funding Bill, which con- 
cerned the payment of Revolutionary securities, had been passed 
by Congress before Jefferson entered the Cabinet. Its logical 
successor, the Assumption Bill,t upon which Congress was 
engaged when he entered the Cabinet, was regarded as belong- 



*See Hamilton, page 238. 
tSee Assumption, page 142. 



OF THOAIAS JEFFERSON 43 

ing distinctively to the Department of the Treasur>-, as was the 
Impost and Excise Bill which was necessarj^ to the carrying out 
of these financial measures. Jefferson's opposition to them was 
well known at the time, and was freely expressed in his writings, 
but they were not made subjects of Cabinet discussions. In 
January, 1791, the Bill for a United States Bank* came up for 
the President's signature. Washington regarded it as of such 
general importance that he asked the opinion of every member 
of his Cabinet individually. Here occurred the first serious 
disagreement between Hamilton and Jefiferson. 

The Bill, in its conception, was Hamilton's. Knox joined in 
urging the President to sign it. JefTerson and Randolph, on the 
other hand, pronounced unconstitutional even the charter upon 
which it w^as based. Though the President finally signed it, 
there was no change in his cordial relations with JefTerson. 
Indeed, this Bill has for us a greater significance than merely 
personal difference between heads of departments could give it. 
It marked the first clear division of the country into political 
parties. 

Upon the personal relations of Hamilton and Jefferson, much 
misconception has prevailed; and this has been exaggerated by 
the extreme bitterness between their respective partisans. Jef- 
ferson's side is set forth in the diary begtm by him in August, 
1 79 1, which is commonly known as the "i\nas." This covers 
the entire period of his secretaryship, and contains much that is 
historically valuable, but the purpose that palpably dominates 
the whole is to keep a record of Hamilton's actions and expres- 
sions, and this often leads Jefferson into a recital of mere trivi- 
alities and gossip. Jefferson counted upon this diar}^ to furnish 
campaign material for combatting what he always maintained 
to.be Hamilton's monarchical designs upon the government. 
He held that Hamilton was the head and front of a monarchical 
party — one w^iich he claimed, on his arrival in New York City, 
was not to be lightly esteemed either in numbers or in influence. 
At first many of the entries in the "Anas" were WTitten down 



*See Bank, National, page 145. 



44 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

days or weeks after the events recorded; but they grew more 
exact in substance and date, as their author became more inimi- 
cal to Hamilton or more convinced that his designs were 
nefarious. A proof of the purpose of the "Anas" may be found 
in the fact that they virtually ceased v/ith Hamilton's death. 
Jefferson himself carefully reviewed them in 1818, and wrote a 
long and vigorous preface to them, embodying knowledge ac- 
quired since their writing; and the; whole was left among his 
important papers with the evident intention that they should be 
given to the world. That such questionable material should be 
given to the world after every pretext for its publication had 
passed away, raised a cry of indignation which the best efforts 
of Jefferson's most partial biographers have not succeeded in 
silencing. 

Another reason which kept Jefferson and Hamilton within the 
bounds of personal decorum was the profound reverence which 
each felt for the President,* and this continued operative long 
after each had come tO' know the real feelings of the other. 
In July, 1792, however, after more than twO' years of inter- 
course, a matter arose involving the direct issue of personal 
veracity. In its origin the trouble was ostensibly of an official 
character. A peculiar train of circumstances had led up to it. 
Early in 1791 Jefferson had offered tO' Philip Freneau, the lead- 
ing Republican editor of the country, the post of clerk for foreign 
languages in the ofifice of the Secretary of State. Jefferson was 
at the time personally unacquainted with him, but he knew his 
power as a publicist and wanted the influence of his pen for 
campaign purposes. That Jefferson from the beginning con- 
templated Freneau's editing a paper is shown by the language 
of the letter offering him the appointment. "The salary, indeed, 
is very low, being but two hundred and fifty dollars, but also it 
gives so little to do as not tO' interfere with any calling the 
person may choose which would not absent him from the seat of 
government." And again, his personal interest in Freneau's 
acceptance was candidly stated in a letter to Madison. Jefferson 



*See Washington, page 421. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 45 

was under the impression that Freneau had decHned. "I am 
sincerely sorry. * * * j should have given him the perusal 
of all my letters of foreign intelligence and all foreign news- 
papers, the publication of all proclamations and other public 
notices within my department, and the printing of the laws 
which, added to his salary, would have been a considerable 
aid." 

Freneau* did, however, finally accept, though not without 
hesitation, and coming to Philadelphia, then the seat of govern- 
ment, established his paper, the National Gazette. He devoted 
himself to lashing unmercifully Hamilton's policy of finance and 
the monarchical and aristocratic tendencies of the ultra-Feder- 
alist school. It is truly remarkable that Hamilton should so 
long have refrained from replying. In July, 1792, however, he 
could no longer restrain himself. Over an assumed signature, 
he assailed Freneau in the Federalist organ, Fenno's Gazette of 
the United States. 

While the assault was in formal terms directed against 
Freneau, it was but too evident that its real animus was against 
Jefferson. The first of the attacks was a short article asking, in 
all pretended innocence, whether the editor of the National 
Gazette received a salary for translation or for publications, "the 
design of which was to vilify those to whom the voice of the 
people had committed the administration of our public afifairs, 
to oppose the measures of government and by false insinuations 
to disturb the public peace." Tlie second article was more bold 
and charged explicitly that Freneau's clerkship was merely a 
subterfuge, that not only had Jefferson employed the patronage 
of public office to the end above hinted at, but that he himself 
frequently contributed to the paper articles of a virulent char- 
acter. The assaults upon Freneau were instantly answered by 
eager partisans, though, strange to say, in the columns of his 
own paper they were practically ignored. He contented himself 
with taking an affidavit before the IMayor of Philadelphia to the 
effect that not a line was ever directly or indirectly written. 



*See Freneau, page 228. 



46 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

dictated or composed for the National Gazette by Mr. Jefferson, 
and that the latter had no interest of any kind in the paper. 
Hamilton totally disregarded the oath but could produce no 
proof whatever for his charges, and he was driven to the gener- 
ality that ^'presumptive facts and circumstances must afford the 
evidence." 

As for the portions of the attack that concerned Jefferson, it 
was not until September that he took any public notice of them, 
for he was in Virginia while they continued, probably designing 
geometrical wheel-barrow's and mould-boards of least resistance. 

When he did finally take notice of them it was in answer to 
an appeal from the President himself, who' at the same time 
forwarded an appeal of like tenor to Hamilton. To both par- 
ties Washington emphasized the disastrous results both at home 
and abroad of dissensions in his Cabinet, and he implored that 
there might be "mutual forbearance and temporizing yielding 
on all sides." Jefferson replied in a letter of great length and 
vigor, setting forth his "opinions against the views of Colonel 
Hamilton," and entering minutely into a discussion of Hamil- 
ton's charges against him. These Jefferson arranged under 
three heads: "First, with having w-ritten letters from Europe 
to my friends to oppose the present constitution while depend- 
ing. Second, with a desire of not paying the public debt. 
Third, with setting up a paper to decry and slander the govern- 
ment." He emphatically denied each charge; but to^ the third 
he devoted the bulk of the letter, solemnly protesting that he 
had nothing to do' with the management of Freneau's paper. 

Hamilton's answer to Washington, of the same date as Jef- 
ferson's, was couched in more peaceful language, but in six 
days from that time he began upon Jefferson a second series 
of attacks, and continued them for four succeeding months. 
These attacks were direct and did not involve Freneau at all. 
His failure, however, tO' overthrow^ Freneau rendered totally 
impotent the attack upon Jefferson, and when Freneau brought 
out the fact that Hamilton himself was doing precisely what he 
had accused Jefferson of doing — namely, supporting a partisan 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 47 

paper by means of the patronage of his department — the rest of 
Hamilton's charges fell harmless to the ground. 

The question of the ethics involved in Jefiferson's connection 
with Freneau may safely be left an open one; but it may be 
remarked that, from that day to the present, many influential 
editors have fared much better in the matter of Federal appoint- 
ments than did Freneau. HoAvever, it may be questioned if any 
editor since Freneau has ever established a paper at the instiga- 
tion of a Cabinet official. It is perhaps significant that we look 
in vain in Jefferson's "Anas" for any mention of overtures to 
Freneau or of this controversy. 

The ultimate effect of the quarrel upon the prestige of Ham- 
ilton, both personally and politically, was fatal. "He lost," says 
Parton, "something which is of no value to an anonymous 
writer in a Presidential campaign, but it is of immense value 
to a public man — weight." Apart from the effect upon Hamil- 
ton, the effect upon the future of our country was of the greatest 
importance. The triumph of Hamilton meant a strong central 
government administered in the English spirit, while that of 
Jefferson meant a light and easy central government that would 
respond readily to the will of the populace; and the Freneau 
matter is of the utmost importance as it led the way to a 
decisive struggle before the tribunal of popular opinion. 

Jefferson's Cabinet opinions and his recommendations and 
reports submitted to the House of Representatives concerned 
both domestic and foreign affairs and embraced a large range 
of subjects. The "Report on the Privileges and Restrictions 
of the Commerce of the United States in Foreign Countries" 
deserves especial notice. It was an elaboration of a tabulated 
statement previously made of commercial relations with the 
British and French dominions. It enters clearly but succinctly 
into the subject of our imports from Spain, Portugal, France, 
Great Britain, the United Netherlands, Denmark, and Sweden. 
It sets forth what commercial articles of ours were received 
by them, and on what terms. Universal free trade, Jefferson 
held, is as a principle most advantageous; but so long as foreign 
restrictions on our commerce and carr}'ing trade continued. 



48 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

they might best be counteracted by a poHcy of liberal reciproc- 
ity. In case any nation should refuse to enter into this policy, 
he proposes various methods of retaliation for discriminating 
restrictions. Throughout the paper he loses no opportunity 
of emphasizing Great Britain's rigorous attitude towards our 
commerce in contrast with the fair and equal principles of trade 
proposed by France. This paper contained the germs of all 
subsequent party discussion and divisions on the tariff. 

To Jefferson and his contemporaries foreign relations were of 
superlative importance. And this is not strange. The young 
nation was just taking its place among hostile, or, at best, indif- 
ferent rivals. The diplomatic problems and issues of that day — 
even those which seemed most difificult and threatening — have 
passed completely away and left but little trace on our present 
national life. But the student of Jefferson's political activity 
must attempt at least to give them that prominence which they 
held in his mind. They were the more intense for being nar- 
rowed down to three countries alone^ — Spain, England and 
France. 

Jefferson's business with Spain took the form of instructions 
tO' our Commissioners at Madrid. These discussed the troubles 
v/ith the Indian tribes on the southern frontier, due largely 
to Spanish instigation, and the disputes over the boundaries 
and commerce. From this period dates the beginning of the 
agitation for the free navigation of the Mississippi. All these 
subjects were destined later to figure extensively in the nego- 
tiations connected with the Louisiana purchase. 

Since the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, England's* atti- 
tude towards her former colonies had been uniformly indifferent, 
even contemptuous. Her unwillingness to^ show a conciliatory 
spirit on any point at issue became more and more marked 
until, in November, 1790, certain representations from Mr. 
Morris, our agent in England, rendered it, in Jefferson's opinion, 
"dishonorable to the United States, useless and even injurious, 
to renew the proposition for a treaty of commerce, or for the 



*See England, page 202. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 49 

exchange of a Minister." These recommendations, as well as 
Jefferson's further one, that Mr. Morris' agency be discontin- 
ued, received the unanimous endorsement of the Cabinet. There 
were, in consequence, no further communications between the 
two countries until a more liberal government sent representa- 
tives to the United States in the autumn of 1791, nearly eight 
years after peace had been declared. 

The new envoy, Mr. Hammond, had served his country in 
Paris at the time Jefferson was stationed there, and their per- 
sonal acquaintance now brought about a courtesy of intercourse 
on both sides. Hammond communicated to Jefferson his pow- 
ers to negotiate, but not to conclude, a treaty of commerce; 
and in December there commenced between them an official 
correspondence whose import was the mutual charge of infrac- 
tions of the existing treaty. It culminated May, 1792, in what 
may be regarded as Jefferson's ablest State paper on Foreign 
Relations. The document is very long and takes up in detail 
every allegation of Hammond, the payments of debts owed to 
England, and England's violation of her promise to surrender, 
"with all convenient speed," certain parts of the American 
frontier. The paper, however, had no important effect upon 
the actions of England. 

We have seen Jefferson's opinion of the friendship entertained 
by France for America. For many years after Yorktown, what- 
soever differences arose concerned merely commercial relations 
and were insignificant. Nor were these friendly relations dis- 
turbed, even when, in November, 1792, Washington's Cabinet 
decided it expedient to suspend payment on the French debt.; 
The king had been dethroned and the affairs of the nation 
seemed tO' the outside world to be in a state of chaos; but by 
February, 1793, Washington assured himself that the Revo- 
lution was a reality, and that the de-facto government must be 
recognized and its friendship cultivated. Payments on the debt 
were then resumed. So' far there was no serious division in 
the Cabinet; but the events which now came heralded by every 
ship were more and more repellent to the conservative sense of 
the countr}'. In January the king had been beheaded; in March 



50 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

began the horrible excesses in the territory of La Vendee, and 
in April, 1793, came the announcement that the French Re- 
public had declared war against England and had commis- 
sioned to the United States a new IMinister who represented the 
extreme type of the revolutionary movement. 

The partiality of the Federalists for England and of the 
Republicans for France now clearly announced itself through 
the entire country. The Republicans recognized beneath the 
atrocities of the movement a contest between the monocratic 
and the democratic principles of government; and the sym- 
pathies of a large part of them were not to^ be extinguished 
because of excesses which they regarded as inevitable in the 
transition from despotism to freedom. It was a political neces- 
sity that as between England and France the United States 
should remain neutral, and Washington was fully alive to the 
fact. He hastened from Mount Vernon and laid before his Cab- 
inet a list of questions for immediate settlement, Jefferson thus 
described the consultation: 

"The first question, whether we should receive the French 
Minister, Genet, was proposed, and we agreed unanimously 
that he should be received; Hamilton at the same time express- 
ing his great regret that any incident had happened which 
should oblige us to recognize the government. The next ques- 
tion was, whether he should be received absolutely, or with 
qualifications. Knox submitted at once to Hamilton's opinion 
that we ought to declare the treaty void. I was clear it re- 
mained valid. Randolph declared himself of the same opinion, 
but agreed to take further time to consider. We determined 
unanimously the last question, that Congress should not be 
called. 

"On May i6th the President told me he had never a doubt 
about the validity of the treaty, but that since the question had 
been suggested he thought it ought to be considered; that this 
being done, I might now issue passports to seagoing vessels 
in the form prescribed by the French treaty." 

The Cabinet agreed unanimously that the President should 
issue a proclamation of neutrality. This proclamation drew 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 5 1 

down on Washington the vituperation of the Republican papers 
of the country. The voice of Freneau was the loudest of all. 
He did not stop short of insolence to Washington personally, 
and his conduct gave rise to the first difference recorded be- 
tween Washington and Jefferson. 

In the meantime Genet* had landed at Charleston and was 
acting in utter disregard of the prevailing neutrality laws. Be- 
fore leaving Charleston, he had commissioned two privateers 
and granted powers tO' the consuls of France in America to 
try, condemn and sell captured prizes. He then proceeded over- 
land to Philadelphia, the recipient of every honor in the towns 
through which he passed. 

Jefferson in a letter to Monroe thus described the state of 
popular feeling: "The war between France and England seems 
to be producing an effect not contemplated. All the old 
spirit of 1776 rekindling the newspapers from Boston to Charles- 
ton proves this, and even the IMonocrat papers are obliged 
to publish the most furious philippics against England. A 
French frigate took a British prize off the Capes of Dela- 
ware, the other day, and sent her up here. Upon coming in 
sight, thousands and thousands of the yeomanry of the city 
crowded and covered the wharfs. Never before was such a 
crowd seen there, and when the British colors were seen re- 
versed and the French frying above them, they burst into 
peals of exultation. I wish we may be able to repress the spirit 
of the people within the limits of a fair neutrality." 

A week later he indicated to ]\Iadison the cleavage of public 
sentiment: "On the one side, i. The fashionable circles of 
Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Charleston (Natural Aris- 
tocrats). 2. Merchants trading on British capital. 3. Paper 
men. (All the old Tories are found in some one of the three 
descriptions.) On the other side, are i. ^Merchants trading on 
their capital. 2. Irish merchants. 3. Tradesmen, mechanics, 
farmers, and every other description of our citizens." 

Genet arrived in Philadelphia on May i6th, and was received 



*See Genet, page 230. 



52 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

by Washing-ton with frankness and with expressions of a sincere 
and cordial regard for his nation. He immediately began a cor- 
respondence with Jefferson, the tone of which grew more 
violent as each unwarrantable request on his part was refused, 
or each cause of complaint satisfactorily explained. Jefferson 
was throughout most conciliatory; but he saw the unmistakable 
trend of Genet's utterances. He expressed his apprehension 
to Monroe: *'I dO' not augur well of the mode of conduct 
of the new French Minister; I fear he will enlarge the evils of 
those disaffected to his country. I am doing everything in my 
power to moderate the impetuosity of his movements, and to 
destroy the dangerous opinions which have been excited in him 
that the people of the United States will disavow the acts of their 
government, and that he has an appeal from the Executive 
to Congress and from both to the people." 

The culmination of Genet's indiscretion w^as reached late in 
June when he repaired the Little Sarah, a capture of the Am- 
buscade, increased her armament, and commissioned her from 
Philadelphia under the name of Little Democrat. Hamilton 
was the first to be apprised of the matter. He immediately com- 
municated his information to Jefferson and Knox, Washington 
and Randolph being absent in Virginia, It was unanimously 
agreed to ask the aid of the State authorities of Pennsylvania; 
and these immediately entered into negotiations with Genet. 
Jefferson himself also sought a. personal interview with him, 
and found him much excited at what he considered the dis- 
crimination of our government against his country. Jeffer- 
son succeeded in calming him, and pressed him to detain the 
Little Democrat until the President should return. Jefferson's 
sympathies* did not blind him to the serious nature of the 
questions that would arise if the vessel should sail; but they ren- 
dered him, one is impelled to think, too easily assured that, 
"though she was to fall somewhere down the river, she would 
not sail." Hamilton and Knox were for erecting a battery, 
and, until the President could be heard from, for forcibly de- 



*See France and England, page 217. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 53 

taining- the ship. But Jefferson dissented with strong feeling, 
and as the President had left directions that action on any 
matter should be taken only on the unanimous decision of the 
Cal)inet, the matter was left in suspense. 

Jefferson's position was one of extreme delicacy. His sym- 
pathies with France were part of his mental life, and they were 
accentuated by the vivid remembrance of the hospitality and 
kindly treatment he received from that nation. His private 
wishes were undoubtedly that his country should recognize the 
manv claims France had upon our gratitude; but he saw too 
clearlv that such a course would bring disaster upon the infant 
country. He sincerely acquiesced, therefore, in Washington's 
policy of strict neutrality. So closely indeed did he follow the 
line of duty that Judge Marshall afterwards wrote of him: 
''The publication of his correspondence with Genet dissipated 
much of the prejudice which had been excited against him." 

None the less, however, did the conduct of Genet fill Jeffer- 
son with chagrin and with apprehension that it would put weap- 
ons in the hands of the Federalists. He wrote tO' Monroe: 
"I fear the disgust of France is inevitable. We shall be to 
blame in part. But the ]\Iinister much more so. His conduct 
is indefensible by the most furious Jacobin. I only wish our 
countrymen may distinguish between him and his nation, and, 
if the case should ever be laid before them, may not suffer 
their affection to the nation to be diminished. Hamilton, 
sensible of the advantage they have got, is urging an appeal 
by the government tO' the people. Such an explosion would 
manifestly endanger a dissolution of the friendship between the 
nations, and ought, therefore, to be deprecated by every friend 
to our liberty; and no one but an enemy to it would wish to 
avail himself of the indiscretions of an individual to^ compromit 
two nations esteeming each other ardently. It will prove that 
the agents of the two peoples are either great bunglers or great 
rascals, when they cannot presence that peace which is the uni- 
versal wish of both." 

On Washington's return to Philadelphia, he found the papers 
in the case of the Little Democrat marked for his "instant 



54 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

attention." Jefferson had retired to his house outside the city. 
Washington dispatched to him a note showing an irritation 
never before seen in him, and asking his immediate presence. 
Jefferson repHed in one of equal stiffness, couched in the third 
person, a mode of address he had never hitherto used towards 
Washington, assigning "a fever for the past few nights" as the 
cause of his leaving the city, and promising "that nothing but 
absolute inability would prevent his being in town to-morrow." 
Despite this personal friction, the pacific policy advocated by 
Jefferson during Washington's absence prevailed. The Cabinet 
decided that the legal questions involved should be referred 
"to persons learned in the laws;" and the British Minister was, 
in addition, informed that the vessel in controversy would not 
depart until the President's determination should be made 
known.* 

Genet's intemperance of language continued. His insolence 
reached a pitch which made it necessary for the Cabinet to 
take up the question of dealing with him. They agreed unani- 
mously that the French government should be requested to re- 
call him; but on the question how the communication should 
be made, there was the usual division of opinion. Jefferson 
was for "expressing that desire with great delicacy; the others 
were for peremptory terms." The Cabinet met for three 
successive days. Every question broached called forth the 
warmest opposition from the one faction or the other. Much, 
however, was accomplished in spite of the incessant wrangling. 
Genet was to be informed that his recall had been asked — a vic- 
tory for Hamilton; but no appeal w^as to be made to the people 
by a publication of the Genet correspondence — a victory for 
Jefferson. In general, more stringent rules were unanimously 
adopted for the maintenance of neutrality between the belliger- 
ents. Jefferson was instructed to draw up a letter asking the 
recall of Genet. His rough draft became, without a change, 
the of^cial communication of the Cabinet. It takes high rank 



* The Little Democrat did, however, put to sea two days later, in disre- 
gard of the assurance Jefferson claimed to have received from Genet. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 55 

among his foreign dispatches, for in it he treated a most dehcate 
subject in a firm and unyielding and yet conciliatory spirit. As 
had been agreed upon, a copy was sent to Genet himself, and 
Jefferson accompanied it with an explanatory note of most con- 
siderate tone. 

This, as far as it concerned Jefferson, closed the Genet inci- 
dent, with the exception of one further communication. Genet 
had impudently sent to the President his instructions, implying 
his desire that they should be laid before Congress. Jeft'erson 
returned them, plainly informing him that the communications 
which were to pass between the Executive and Legislative 
branches could not be a subject for his interference. This was 
Jefferson's last official act as Secretary of State. 

It had for nearly two years been Jefferson's purpose to retire 
from public life. At first, he set as the date the end of Wash- 
ington's first term, but at each suggestion of his purpose to with- 
draw, Washington had, by pleading considerations of the pub- 
lic good as well as his own personal desires, prevailed upon 
him to remain. This he had consented with some reluctance 
to do until the Freneau matter, with the personal bitterness 
it engendered in the Cabinet, confirmed Jefferson's disinclina- 
tion to a position which called for daily contest with an aggres- 
sive and untiring opponent. Considerations of personal pride, 
however, arrested his carrying out his purpose. In Januar}^ 
1793, he wrote his daughter, Mrs. Randolph: "jMy operations 
at Monticello had been all made to bear upon the close of this 
session of Congress; my mind was fixed on it with a fondness 
which was extreme, the purpose firmly declared to the President 
when I became assailed from all quarters with a variety of 
objections. Among these it was urged that my retiring, just 
when I had been attacked in the public papers, would injure me 
in the eyes of the public, who would suppose I either withdrew 
from investigation, or because I had not a tone of mind sufficient 
to meet slander. These representations have for some weeks past 
shaken a determination which I thought the whole world could 
not have shaken." Jefferson's resolution to resign was not again 
broached, until the unpleasant events connected with the Genet 



56 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

episode hurried him on to a resignation. July 31st he sent to 
the President a letter in which a decided tone of bitterness is 
to be discovered. One passage will suffice: "At the close, 
therefore, of the ensuing month of September, I shall beg leave 
to retire to scenes of greater tranquillity, from those which I 
am every day more and more convinced that neither my talents, 
tone of mind, nor time of life fit me." Jefferson went more 
fully into his reasons: "I expressed to him [Washington] my 
excessive repugnance to public life, the particular uneasiness 
of my situation in this place where the laws of society oblige 
me always to move exactly in the circles which I know to 
bear me peculiar hatred, that is to say, the wealthy aristocrats, 
the merchants closely connected with England, the new created 
paper fortunes; that thus surrounded, my words were caught, 
multiplied, misconstrued, and even fabricated and spread abroad 
to my injury; that he (Washington) saw, also, that there was 
such an opposition of views between myself and another part 
of the administration as to render it peculiarly unpleasing and to 
destroy the necessary harmony." At the further solicitation of 
the President, however, Jefferson agreed to continue in office 
through December. 

On December 31st, 1793, therefore, Jefferson finally trans- 
mitted his resignation, couched in terms of the warmest cordial- 
ity and profoundest respect tovv'ards the President. He re- 
ceived in reply a letter which goes far towards refuting the 
idea that there was at this time an alienation between Wash- 
ington and Jefferson, or that Jefferson averted an approaching 
alienation by resigning. No stronger summary of Jefferson's 
service in the Cabinet can be given than Washington's stately 
words of commendation and personal regard: 

"Dear Sir: Since it has been impossible to prevail upon you to 
forego any longer the indulgence of your desire for private life, 
the event, however anxious I am to avert it, must be submitted 
to. But I cannot suffer you to leave your station without assuring 
you that the opinion which I have formed of your integrity and 
talents, and which dictated your original nomination, has been 
confirmed by the fullest experience, and that both have been 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 57 

displayed in the discharge of your duty. Let a conviction of my 
most earnest prayers for your happiness accompany you in 
your retirement; and while I accept, with the warmest thanks, 
your solicitude for my welfare, I beg you to believe that I am, 
dear sir, Yours, etc., 

George Washington." 

RETIREMENT. 

In January, 1794, Jefferson reached Monticello to enjoy a 
retirement* which he intended should last many years. He 
was now in his fifty-first year, and he imagined, to judge from 
his correspondence, that his constitution w^as shattered and 
that he had become an old man. This feeling was merely the re- 
action following upon his withdrawal from the severe strain 
ol his Cabinet life; but it served to enhance the sincerity of 
his protestations of contentment with his new environment. 
As a matter of fact, his bodily strength was that of a much 
younger man — the result of his temperate and regular habits. 
A few months found him completely restored to health. 

His domestic life had in it much to erase whatever unpleasant 
recollections he retained from his public service. Four years 
before his elder daughter, iMartha, had become the wife of 
Thomas Mann Randolph, a distant kinsman, and the young 
couple with their twO' children now came to^ live at Monticello. 
Mrs. Randolph was a highly acco'mplished woman, attractive 
in manners and conversation, endowed with unusual good sense, 
and devoted to her father. His younger daughter, Maria, 
now in "her seventeenth year, completed the circle. She had 
for three years lived with her father in Philadelphia. She 
closely resembled her mother in her beauty and frailness of 
health, and was distinguished among" all of her acquaintances 
for the unselfishness of her character. 

Jefferson's life was now ol the quietest description. Though 
his habit of letter-writing was practically dropped (during the 



*See Retirement, page 369. 



58 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

year 1794 only nine letters are preserved as his correspondence), 
yet he wrote enough to acquaint us with his daily occupations. 
To his late colleague and successor in the State department, 
Edmund Randolph, he wrote the first letter of his retirement. 
In this he said: "I think it is Montaigne who has said that 
ignorance is the softest pillow on which a man can rest his 
head. I am sure it is true as to everything political, and shall 
endeavor to estrange myself to everything of that character. 
I indulge myself on one political topic only, that is, in declar- 
ing to my countrymen the shameless corruption of a portion of 
the representatives tO' the first and second Congresses and 
their implicit devotion to the Treasur}^" To Mr. Adams, the 
Vice-President, he wrote even more complacently: "Tlie differ- 
ence of my present and past situation is such as to leave me 
nothing to regret but that my retirement has been postponed 
four years too long. The principles on which I calculated the 
value of life are entirely in favor of my present course, 1 return 
to farming with an ardor which has got the better entirely of 
my love of study. Instead of writing ten or twelve letters a 
day, which I have been in the habit of doing as a thing of 
course, I put off answering my letters now, farmerlike, till a 
rainy day, and then find them sometimes postponed by other 
necessary occupations." 

To Tenche Coxe, an old friend, he wrote in a vein which 
later furnished his opponents with a theme for much ridicule: 

"I am still warm whenever I think of those scoundrels [mem- 
bers of Congress whO' had profited by Hamilton's schemes], 
though I do it as seldom as I can, preferring infinitely to con- 
template the tranquil growth of my lucern and my potatoes. 
I have SO' completely withdrawn myself from these spectacles 
of usurpation and misrule that I do not take a single newspaper, 
nor read one a month; and I feel myself infinitely happier for it." 

According to his farm book, his estate comprised a total of 
10,647 acres, but the greatest area under cultivation at any 
one time never reached two thousand acres. His slaves num- 
bered one hundred and fifty-four. His domestic animals at the 
beginning of 1794 were thirty-four horses, five mules, two hun- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 59 

dred and forty-nine cattle, three hundred and ninety hogs, and 
three sheep. A letter to the President shows the condition of 
his property: "I find, on a more minute examination of my 
lands than the short visits heretofore made to them permitted, 
that a ten years' abandonment of them to the ravages of over- 
seers has brought on them a degree of degradation far beyond 
what I had expected. As this obliges me to adopt a milder 
course of cropping, so I find that they have enabled me to do 
it by having opened a great deal of land during my absence. 
I have, therefore, determined on a division of my farms into six 
fields, to be put in this rotation: first year, wheat; second, 
corn, potatoes, peas; third, rye or wheat, according to circum- 
stances; fourth and fifth, clover when the field will bring it; and 
buckwheat dressings when they will not; sixth, folding and 
buckwheat dressings. But it will take me from three to six 
years to get this plan under way. I am not yet satisfied that 
my acquisition of overseers has been a happy one, or that much 
will be done this year towards rescuing my plantations from 
their wretched condition. Time, patience and perseverance 
must be the remedy; and the maxim of your letter, 'Slow and 
sure,' is not less a good one in agriculture than in politics." 

Success attended Jefferson's efforts to reduce to system the 
afifairs of his estate. A picture of the prosperity of Monticello 
and a pleasing sketch of its owTier was drawn by Rochefoucauld- 
Liancourt, who visited Jefferson in 1796: "At present he is 
employed with activity and perseverance in the management 
of his farms and buildings; and he orders, directs, and pursues 
in the minutest detail every branch of business relative to them. 
I found him in the midst of harvest, from which the scorching 
heat of the sun does not prevent his attendance. His negroes 
are nourished, clothed, and treated as well as white servants 
could be. As he did not expect any assistance from the two 
small neighboring towns, every article is made on his farm. His 
negroes are cabinet-makers, carpenters, masons, bricklayers, 
smiths, etc. The children he employs in a nail factor}', which 
yields already a considerable profit. The young and old ne- 
gresses spin for the clothing of the rest. He animates them 



6o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

by rewards and distinctions. In tine, his superior mind directs 
the management of his domestic concerns with the same ability, 
activity, and regularity which he evinced in the conduct of pub- 
lic affairs, and which he is calculated to display in any situation 
of life. In the superintendence of his household, he is assisted 
by his two daughters, Mrs. Randolph and Miss Maria, who are 
handsome, modest and amiable women." 

It was in the summer of 1796 that Jefferson reduced to defi- 
nite form his speculations on the subject of mould-boards of 
least resistance. He had been at work upon this problem for 
years, and it was with great pride that he finally solved it and 
put his ideal plows in operation in his own fields. In 1798, at 
the official request of the .English Board of Agriculture, he 
forwarded to them a model and description of his plow; and, 
a year or .so later, he also sent one tO' the Agricultural Society 
of the Seine. Indeed, it was generally understood in France 
that Jefferson was the discoverer of a formula for constructing, 
on mathematical principles, a mould-board of least resistance for 
plows. 

Although immersed in subjects of scientific agriculture, Jef- 
ferson's mind had never really forsaken its old channels. His 
letters of 1795 and 1796 constantly revert to political topics. 
Washington's address to Congress in November, 1794, at- 
tracted his keenest interest. This concerned exclusively the 
measures which had been taken by the Executive to put down 
the revolts in western Pennsylvania against the Excise Law. 
Since the passage of the law in March, 1791, there had been 
throughout this section constant protests and popular disturb- 
ances. In the summer of 1794 these troubles culminated in 
a meeting of delegates at Pittsburg, at which a system of cor- 
respondence between the malcontents was established. Armed 
men continued to interrupt Federal officers in the discharge of 
their duties, and either drove them away or compelled them 
to pledge themselves not to^ attempt tO' serve processes. All 
these measures had as their avowed purpose the repeal of the 
law. Before resorting to force the President issued a proclama- 
tion of warning to the law-breakers. Randolph, Jefferson's 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 6l 

successor as Secretary of State, and Gov. ^Mifflin, the Republi- 
can Governor of Pennsylvania, advised that certain commis- 
sioners already appointed should proceed to the scene of dis- 
turbance and offer a full pardon for past offenses on condition 
of future obedience to the laws; and they maintained that this 
would be more effectual if there was no threat of calling out 
troops. Hamilton, however, the father of the obnoxious law, 
was for more stringent measures. He urged Washington to 
call for troops at once and send them against the insurgents 
if they refused obedience. This plan prevailed, and the Presi- 
dent made requisition in due form upon the Governors of New 
Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia for 15,000 militia. 
General Henry Lee, of Virginia, w'as in command; but Hamil- 
ton's request that he might accompany the expedition had been 
granted, and he was virtually its head. The troops crossed 
the Alleghanies late in October, but when they arrived in 
the disaffected district no resistance of any kind was offered. 
Several persons were arrested, but were subsequently released 
by the civil authorities. 

Jefferson at the outset had been bitterly opposed to the pas- 
sage of the Excise Law; and besides his disapproval of the 
spirit in which its execution was now enforced, his sentiments 
tow^ard the men at the head of the expedition were not such as 
to reconcile him to it. He could no longer keep silent when 
he saw in the President's address a vigorous denunciation of the 
Democratic Corresponding Societies w'hich in some States had 
been established in imitation of the French societies of that 
name. The President held these in a large measure responsible 
for the outbreak. Jefferson wrote to Madison his first censure 
of the President: "The denunciation of the democratic so- 
cieties is one of the extraordinary acts of boldness of which we 
have seen so many from the faction of Monocrats. It is won- 
derful indeed that the President should have permitted himself 
to be the organ of such an attack on the freedom of discussion, 
the freedom of WTiting, printing and publishing. I expected 
to have seen some justification of arming one part of the society 
against another; * * * but the part of the speech which was 



62 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to be taken as a justification of the armament reminded me of 
Parson Sanders's demonstration why minus into minus makes 
plus. After a parcel of shreds of stuff from yEsop's Fables and 
Tom Thumb, he jumps at once into his ergo, minus multiplied 
by minus makes plus. Just so the fifteen thousand men enter 
after the fables in the speech." 

Hardly had the excitement of the country over the excise 
trouble subsided, when a fresh cause of dissension arose in the 
treaty* arranged with England by John Jay. The advocates 
of this treaty did not claim perfection for it. Jay himself was 
dissatisfied with some of its terms; Hamilton was for "valuable 
alterations;" and the President, according to Judge Marshall's 
statement, had several objections to it. The Federalist party in 
the main supported it as the best treaty that could be secured 
in the circumstances. The Republican party, on the contrary, 
everywhere denounced it in unmeasured terms as a shameless 
surrender to England of every point at issue between the two 
countries. In this they were joined by many who had hith- 
erto been uniformly well affected toward the administration. 
Immense mass meetings were held in Boston, New York, Phila- 
delphia, Charleston, and in many of the rural sections to protest 
against the final ratification of the treaty, 

Jefferson's first expression of an opinion on the treaty shows 
surprisingly little sympathy with this general dissatisfaction. 
He wrote Mann Page on August 30th, 1795 : "Our part of the 
country is in considerable fermentation on what they suspect to 
be a recent roguery. They say that while all hands were below 
■deck mending sails, splicing ropes, and every one at his own 
business, and the captain in his cabin attending to his log-book 
and chart, a rogue of a pilot has run them intO' an enemy's 
port. But metaphor apart, there is much dissatisfaction with 
Mr. Jay and his treaty. For my part, I consider myself now 
but as a passenger, leaving the world and its government to 
those who are likely tO' live longer in it." When, however, 
Hamilton came forward over the signature, first of Ciirtiiis, and 



*See Jaj-'s Treaty, page 269. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 63 

then of Camilliis, as the special champion of the treaty, Jeffer- 
son forgot his slender hold upon the world and showed a very 
robust desire to have Hamilton refuted. Three weeks after 
the letter to Page he wrote to Madison: "A solid reply might 
completely demolish what was too feebly attacked and has gath- 
ered strength from the weakness of the attack. The mer- 
chants were certainly (except those of them who are English) 
as open-mouthed at first against the treaty as any. But the 
general expression of indignation has alarmed them for the 
strength of the Government. They have feared the shock would 
be too great, and chosen to tack about and support both Treaty 
and Government rather than risk the Government. Thus it is 
that Hamilton, Jay, etc., in the boldest act they ever ventured 
on to undermine the Government, have the address to screen 
themselves, and direct the hue and cry against those who wish 
to drag them into light. A bolder party stroke was never struck. 
For it certainly is an attempt of a party w^ho find they have lost 
their majority in one branch of the Legislature, to make a law 
by the aid of the other branch and of the Executive, under 
color of a treaty which shall bind up the hands of the adverse 
branch from ever restraining the commerce of their patron na- 
tion. There appears a pause at present in the public senti- 
ment which may be followed by a revolution. * * * Por 
God's sake take up your pen and give a fundamental reply to 
Ciirtius and Camillus." 

Despite the Republican opposition, the treaty was ratified. 
This evoked a storm of criticism, the bitterness of which has 
rarely been equalled in our histor}-. Jefferson joined in this 
criticism and did not spare Washington himself. He even as- 
sailed the treaty-making power of the Executive. "The objects 
on which the President and Senate may exclusively act by 
treaty are much reduced," he wrote, "but the field on which 
they may act with the sanction of the Legislature is large 
enough. And I see no harm in rendering their sanction neces- 
sary and not much haiTn in annihilating the whole treaty-making 
power, except as to making peace." Touching the President's 
refusal to lay before the House the documents relating to the 



64 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

treaty, he wrote to Madison: "The whole mass of your con- 
stituents are looking to ycu as their last hope to save them from 
the effects of the avarice and corruption of the first agent [Jay], 
the revolutionary machinations of others, and the incompre- 
hensible acquiescence of the only honest man who has assented 
to it. I wish that his honesty and his political errors may not 
furnish a second occasion to exclaim: 'Curse on his virtues, 
they have undone his country.' " 

Jay's treaty and the insurrection against the Excise Law drew 
Jeflferson into the current of active politics. The Presidential 
election of 1796 found him the candidate of his party. If we 
may trust his own protestations, he became a candidate much 
against his will. To Madison's urgent appeal that he assume 
the leadership of his party he replied (April, 1795): "There is 
not another person (beside yourself) in the United States, who 
being placed at the helm of affairs, my mind would be so^ com- 
pletely at rest for the future of our political bark, * * * 
As to myself, the subject had been thoroughly weighed and 
decided on, and my retirement from office had been meant from 
all office, high and low, without exception. I can say, too, 
with truth, that the subject had not been presented to my mind 
by any vanity of my own, * * * g^^ ^\-^q [^q^. being once 
presented to me, my own quiet required that I should face and 
examine it, I did so thoroughly, and had no difficulty tO' see 
that every reason which had determined me to retire from 
the office I then held operated more strongly against that which 
was insinuated from a hostile quarter to be my object, * ^h * 
Special considerations which have supervened on my retirement 
still more insuperably bar the door to it. My health is entirely 
broken down within the last eight months ; my age requires that 
I shall place my affairs in a clear state; these are sound if taken 
care of, but capable of considerable dangers if longer neglected; 
and above all things, the delights I feel in the society of my fam- 
ily and in the agricultural pursuits in which I am so eagerly 
engaged. The little spice of ambition which I had in my 
younger days has long since evaporated, and I set still less store 
by a posthumous than present name. In stating to you the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 65 

heads of reasons which have produced my determination, I do 
not mean an opening for future discussion, or that I may be 
reasoned out of it. The question is forever closed with me; 
my sole object is to avail myself of the first opening ever given 
me from a friendly quarter (and I could not with decency do 
it before) of preventing any division or loss of votes which might 
be fatal to the Republican interests." 

There is no good reason to doubt that Jefferson was sincere 
when he made these assertions; but he had mistaken a purely 
temporary condition of body and mind for a lasting one. Time 
had restored his health and brought events of national and in- 
ternational importance in whose settlement he could but feel 
an absorbing interest. True, he was not now aggressively eager 
for the no'mination; but it was only natural that he should not 
be indifferent to the spontaneous and unanimous wish of his 
party. It was not definitely known until Washington's Farewell 
Address appeared, in September, that he would retire, but his 
retirement was anticipated, and by midsummer Jefferson was 
recognized as the Republican candidate. The contest was be- 
tween him and Adams, the Federalist candidate. The campaign 
was strangely quiet. Jefferson wrote but one political letter, 
and w^as not outside of his county during the three months pre- 
ceding the election. 

It was late in December when Jefferson learned the result of 
the contest. On Januar)' ist, 1797, he wrote Madison: "The 
event of the election has never been a matter of doubt in my 
mind. * * * Indeed, the vote comes much nearer an equal- 
ity than I had expected. I know the difficulty of obtaining be- 
lief in one's declarations of a disinclination to honors, and that 
it is greatest to those who still remain in the world. But no 
arguments were w^anting to reconcile me to a relinquishment 
of the first office or acquiescence under the second. As to 
the first, it was impossible that a more solid unwillingness settled 
on full calculation could have existed in any man's mind, short 
of the degree of absolute refusal, * * * As to the second, 
it is the only office in the world about which I am unable to 
decide in my own mind whether I had rather have it or not have 



66 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

it. Pride does not enter into the estimate; for I think with the 
Romans that the general of to-day should be a soldier of to- 
morrow if necessary. I can particularly have no feelings which 
would revolt at a secondary position tO' Mr. Adams. I am 
his junior in life, was his junior in Congress, his junior in the 
diplomatic line, his junior lately in our civil Government." It 
seems almost inexplicable at first sight that Jefiferson should 
thus view the success ol a rival and an acknowledged Federalist; 
but the idea of a compromise with Adams, of which we shall 
see later the development, was already in his mind. 

On February 8th, 1797, the votes for President and Vice-Presi- 
dent were opened in the presence of the two Houses of Con- 
gress. Adams had received the entire votes of the New England 
States, New York, New Jersey, and Delaware, one from Penn- 
sylvania, seven fro^m Maryland, one from Virginia, and one 
from North Carolina — seventy-one in all. Jefferson had re- 
ceived the entire votes of South Carolina, Georgia, Kentucky, 
and Tennessee with fourteen from Pennsylvania, four from 
Maryland, twenty from Virginia and eleven from North Caro- 
lina — a total of sixty-eight. Adams was therefore declared 
President and Jefferson Vice-President. 

JEFFERSON AS VICE-PRESIDENT. 

In March, 1797, Jefferson arrived in Philadelphia in time to 
assume his duties as Vice-President. He had written Madison 
on January 22nd : "Though I am not aware of any necessity of 
going on to Philadelphia immediately, yet I have determined 
to do it as a mark of respect to the public, and to do away with 
the doubts which have spread that I will consider the second 
office as beneath my acceptance. The journey, indeed, for the 
month of February is a tremendous undertaking for one who 
has not been seven miles from home since my re-settlement." 

Adams' inaugural speech was regarded by the extreme Fed- 
eralists as "temporizing, and as having the air of a lure for 
the favor of his opponents at the expense of his sincerity." This 
opinion, divested of its harsh tone, was not without founda- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 67 

tion, for intervie-vvs liad already taken place between Adams 
and Jefferson which looked toward a coalition of their forces. 
Jefferson was more than willing to meet him half way. He 
had, on March 2nd, called on the President-elect. The call was 
returned the next morning. Jefferson described the interview 
at length: 

"Mr. Adams found me alone in my room, and shutting the 
door himself, said he was glad tO' find me alone, for that he 
wished a free conversation with me. He entered immediately on 
an explanation of the situation of our affairs with France and 
the danger of rupture with that nation, a rupture which would 
convulse the attachments of this country. * * * That he 
had, therefore, concluded to send a mission, which by its dignity 
should satisfy France, and by its selection from the three great 
divisions of the continent, should satisfy all parts of the United 
States; in short, that he had determined to join Gerry and Madi- 
son to Pinckney, and he wished me to consult Mr. Madison 
for him. * * * j consulted ]\'Ir. Madison, who declined as 
I expected." 

But the attempt to harmonize was destined to be abortive, 
for Adams, before two days should elapse, was to prove himself 
not so far freed from party ties. Jefferson's "Anas" gives the se- 
quel: "I think it was on IMonday, the sixth of March, Mr. 
Adams and myself met at dinner at Gen. Washington's, and 
we happened in the evening to rise from the table and come 
away together. As soon as we got into the street, I told him 
the event of my negotiation with Mr. Madison. He immediately 
said that on consultation some objections to that nomination 
had been raised which he had not contemplated; and was going 
on with excuses, which evidently embarrassed him, when we 
came to Fifth street, where our road separated, his being 
down Market street, mine along Fifth, and we took leave; and 
he never after that said one word to me on the subject, or ever 
consulted me as tO' any measures of the Government." The 
usual extra session of the Senate for confirming appointments 
lasted a few days, and Jefferson returned to Monticello imme- 
diate! v. 



68 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

The most urgent matter awaiting the new administration 
was that of our French relations. In 1794, Monroe had been 
sent by Washington as special envoy to France, and had been 
received by the National Convention with every demonstration 
of good will. He had secured the repeal of the decree which 
authorized the seizure and sale of provisions found on board 
United States vessels; and payment for seizures already made 
was promised. But Jay's mission to England, with the uncer- 
tainty as to its true purpose, had proved itself an insuperable 
obstacle to full unity with France. The French Government 
complained that the impending treaty was an infraction of the 
existing one of 1778 between America and France. The United 
States Government, after it had committed itself to the ratifica- 
tion of the treaty, recalled Monroe. 

At this the French Government, whose executive power had, 
in 1795, been merged into a Directory of five members, took 
violent offense. They alleged that Monroe's recall was due 
solely to his friendly disposition toward their country, and they 
immediately entered upon extreme measures of retaliation. 
French cruisers were ordered to treat neutrals as those neutrals 
permitted the English to treat them; and, in October, 1796, an 
Arret was issued directing the seizure of British property and 
provisions found on board American vessels. 

The relations between the United States and France were at 
this tension w^hen Adams became President. In less than three 
weeks came news of still greater importance. The head of the 
Directory, in granting Monroe his letters of recall had used 
severe language in regard to the policy of the American Gov- 
ernment toward England, and had refused letters of hospitality 
to Pinckney, who had been sent as Monroe's successor. Adams 
immediately called an extra session of Congress to meet on 
May 15th, and opened it with a speech of warlike tone. The 
answers of the two Houses were of a similar character, and in 
this spirit they began legislation. With this special session 
of Congress began Jefferson's first service as the permanent 
presiding officer of a deliberative body. The duties were not 
entirely strange to him, for he had often been called to the chair 



OF THOxMAS JEFFERSON 69 

of the Virginia House of Burgesses and of the Continental Con- 
gress. In spite of this experience, however, he was fully aware 
of his lack of acquaintance with parliamentary procedure. He 
applied to his old preceptor, Mr. Wythe, for such parliamentary 
rules as he had committed to paper, but Mr. Wythe had none, 
and he was obliged tO' depend upon a commonplace-book on the 
proceedings of deliberative bodies, compiled while he was a 
student and practitioner of law. This, perfected by his experi- 
ence in the Senate, grew into "Jefferson's Manual of Parlia- 
mentary Law." 

The President's speech at the opening of Congress met Jef- 
ferson's unequivocal condemnation. He became convinced that 
Adams was bent on forcing the country into a war with France, 
and from this time forth his wdiole attention was centered in 
opposing the policy of the Government. His opposition, of 
course, acquired preponderating importance from his leader- 
ship of his party, and from his official station as Vice-President. 
The party had got its bearings by this time, and had developed 
a spirit which brought with it the almost inevitable estrange- 
ment of friends. This Jefferson deprecated most honestly. He 
wrote to E. Rutledge, June, 1797: "The passions are too high 
at present to be cooled in a day. You and I have formerly 
seen warm debates and high political passions. But gentlemen 
of different politics would then speak to each other, and separate 
the business of the Senate from' that of society. It is not so 
now. Men who have been intimate all their lives cross the street 
to avoid meeting and turn their heads another way, lest they 
should be obliged to touch their hats. This may do for young 
men with wdiom passion is enjoyment. But it is afflicting to 
peaceable minds. Tranquillity is the old man's milk. I go to 
enjoy it in a few days, and to- exchange the roar and tumult of 
bulls and bears for the prattle of my grandchildren and senile 
rest." 

Wlien Congress reassembled in November, he was not present 
at the opening. He was never present w'hen the President's 
speeches were delivered to Congress. He did not care to lend 
by his presence approval to the formal and fulsome replies 



70 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of the Federalist Senate. Congress had practically no business 
before it. Nothing had been heard from the envoys to France, 
though several months had elapsed since Marshall and Gerry 
had been sent to join Pinckney. Again and again Jefferson 
wrote of the failure to hear from them. In spite of the fact that 
he invariably put the most favorable interpretation upon their 
silence, the tone of his correspondence betrays an anxiety which 
he could not conceal. He regarded this period of suspense as 
most critical for the future policy and even for the existence of 
his party; and this was the belief of most of the Republican 
members of Congress. 

Early in March, the long-expected dispatches reached the 
President, and on the 5th he laid one of these before Congress, 
with the announcement that others in cipher were in his pos- 
session. On the 19th he communicated enough of these to 
reveal their tenor and to arouse the passions of the war party. 
At the same time he proposed war preparations of an offensive 
as well as defensive character. The Senate requested the cipher 
dispatches in full, and the President willingly complied. Their 
contents were of a most inflammatory character. The envoys 
had not secured a single interview with Talleyrand, the Direc- 
tory's Minister for foreign affairs. This wily statesman had 
continued to excuse himself on one plea or another, and had 
sent his special agents, Hottingeur, Bellamy, and Hauteval, to 
meet the American legation in his stead. The dispatches omitted 
the names of Talleyrand's agents and substituted the letters 
X. Y. Z. — a circumstance that gave the transaction the name 
of "the X. Y. Z. affair." These go-betweens repeatedly sug- 
gested to the envoys to propose tO' Talleyrand the loan of a 
large sum of money by the United States, and the envoys made 
the mistake of listening to the suggestions. But they went no 
further. They steadily refused to make any answer until French 
captures of American vessels should cease. The caution of both 
sides prevented any agreement from being reached, and after 
months of futile negotiations the American envoys finally did 
what they should have done when the first ambiguous overture 
was made to them. They broke off all negotiations, and re- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 71 

ported to the President their failure to reach an agreement with 
the French Government. 

When the dispatches were made public in the United States, 
the fiercest indignation against France spread throughout the 
countr)\ The Republican party, as the one associated with 
France by tradition and tenet, was almost instantly reduced to 
a more feeble minority than ever before. In the House of 
Representatives the change of sentiment was especially remark- 
able. Tlie few Republicans who stood firm could do nothing 
more than urge that no action should be taken until the truth 
could be more clearly known. This is the tone, also, of Jeffer- 
son's letters during the intensity of the excitement. His dis- 
gust was as strong as that which he felt during the Genet aiTair. 
He wrote as a man who felt his cause discredited; nor can we en- 
tirely acquit him of a species of intellectual juggling, when he 
maintained that not the conduct of Talleyrand, but Adams' ad- 
dress of May, 1797, was the chief obstacle to reconciliation and 
friendship between the nations. 

Whatever may have been the source of the hostility of France, 
it is certain that the indignation of the United States was rapidly 
fanned by the measures which the administration pressed 
through Congress after the X. Y. Z. revelations. Bills for in- 
creasing the fleet and army of the country, for fortifying the har- 
bors, for suspending all commercial intercourse with France, 
and for giving to the President powers absolutely discretionary 
in all matters of war, now rapidly passed through Congress. 

In July, 1798, Washington w'as nominated to be Lieutenant- 
General of all armies which might be raised, and he accepted 
on the understanding that he should control the selection of all 
inferior general officers. Hamilton was made Inspector-General, 
and with Pinckney and Knox was raised to the rank of IMajor- 
General. The policy pursued in the appointment of officers 
for the army excited in the Republican party the deepest sus- 
picion. Washington had accepted the command with the ex- 
press avowal that it was for an exigency, and that, when that 
should pass over, he would resign. In that event the senior in 
command, and the man whom the Federalist Senate would 



'J^ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

eagerly appoint as Washington's successor, was Hamilton. Not 
only would the army thus be commanded by the chief opponent 
of the Republicans, but all the higher commissions would be 
given to men who were either Federalists or of decided Fed- 
eralist leaning. Even for the lower commissions Washington 
advocated, as is seen in a confidential letter to General Davie, 
this principle of selection. He was for giving the first prefer- 
ence to competent officers of the old army, but added: "If 
such are not to be found, next, to young gentlemen of good fam- 
ilies, liberal education, and high sense of honor; and thirdly, 
in neither case to any who are known enemies to their own 
government; for they will as certainly attempt tO' create dis- 
turbances in the military as they have done in the civil admin- 
istration of their country." 

In civil affairs, the administration was no less active. On 
June 2 1 St, the President sent a special message to Congress 
announcing that he had put an end to all negotiations with 
France by the recall of Gerry, the last remaining envoy in that 
country. Congress now conferred upon the President unpre- 
cedented powers. The war measures put under his direction 
necessarily involved the strictest watchfulness over the large 
body of foreigners resident in America. The term of residence 
necessary to naturalization was extended to fourteen years, and 
it was further required that the applicant for naturalization 
papers should prove that he had declared his intention of be- 
coming a citizen five years before the application. All aliens 
were required to report themselves and be registered by the 
clerks in the district courts. But the extreme of the Federalist 
position was reached when the "Alien act" was passed (June 
25th, 1798). This famous law authorized the President to order 
out of the country all such aliens as he might judge to be 
dangerous to the peace and safety of the United States; and if 
such alien was afterwards found in the country, he could be 
imprisoned for three years. 

Something was yet needed, however, to reach the class whom 
the Federalists specially feared — the native-born Republicans 
who were in opposition to the war fever and to the measures of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 73 

the administration. The Sedition act quickly followed the Alien 
act.* It provided heavy fines and imprisonment for any per- 
son who should conspire to oppose the United States Govern- 
ment or the laws thereof, or should print or publish any "false, 
scandalous or malicious writings against the Government, Con- 
gress or the President, intended to bring disrepute or hatred 
upon, or stir up sedition against them." The dominant party 
did not dare to aggravate the severity of these provisions by 
conferring upon the President the scope and power which they 
had given him in the Alien law. It was necessary that, in sedi- 
tion cases, the defendants should be convicted of the charge 
before a court of the United States. The Federal courts thus 
came immediately into prominence, for in the opinion of the 
Republicans, they were to be the sure and active instruments 
of partisan persecution. 

Jefferson had left for home before the passage of the Sedition 
law in its original form. He had throughout the session closely 
followed the trend of events, and he left Philadelphia impressed 
with what he regarded as the intemperate language and conduct 
of the President. He saw, however, that the country had 
come to look more rationally upon the differences with France. 
To John Taylor he wrote in a most hopeful strain: "There 
is a most respectable part of our State who have been enveloped 
in the X. Y. Z. delusion, and who destroy our unanimity for the 
present moment. This disease of the imagination will pass 
over, because the patients are essentially Republican. In- 
deed, the doctor is now on his way to cure it in the guise of a 
tax-gatherer. But give time for the medicine to work, and for 
the repetition of stronger doses which must be administered. 
* * * Nothing but excessive taxation can get us along; 
and this will carry reason and reflection to every man's door, 
and particularly in the hour of election." 

During this summer the leaders of the opposition had looked 
around for some means of formal and effectual resistance to the 
policy of the administration, "finding themselves," to use their 

*See Alien and Sedition Laws, page 137. Also Kentucky Resolutions, 
page 282. 



74 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

expression, "of no use in Congress, browbeaten as they were 
by the bold and overwhelming majority, they had concluded 
to retire from that field and take a stand in the State Legislatures 
against their opponents' enterprises on the Constitution." In 
this they counted on the co-operation of Virginia and Ken- 
tucky, as "the sympathy between these two States was more 
cordial and more intimately confidential than between any other 
two States of Republican policy." Toward the close of October, 
1798, W. C. Nicholas, of Virginia, and John C. Breckenridge, of 
Kentucky, visited Monticello and urged Jefferson to draw up 
resolutions of the desired tenor for presentation to the Legisla- 
ture of Kentucky. They assured him that it should not be 
known from what quarter the resolutions came, and Jefferson 
consented to draft them;. In the original draft they were nine 
in number.* They declared that the Union was not based on 
the principle of unlimited submission to the general govern- 
ment; that the Constitution was a compact to which each 
State was a party as over against its fellow States; and that in 
all cases not specified in the compact, each party had a right to 
judge for itself as well of infraction as of the mode and measure 
of redress. The Ahen and Sedition Acts were denounced as 
unconstitutional, and other States were invited to join in de- 
claring them void. These resolutions,! in almost the same 
form in which they went from. Jefferson's hand, passed the 
Kentucky Legislature almost unanimously. One, the ninth, 
authorizing the committee to establish a system of correspond- 
ence on the subject with other States, was omitted; another 
(the eighth), advocating a nullification as the rightful remedy 
for all assumptions of power by the national Government, was 
modified. Instead of declaring the acts null and void, the 
Legislature merely instructed the representatives of Kentucky 
in Congress "to use their best endeavors to procure at the next 



♦The authorship of the resolutions was not generally known until 1821, 
when Jefferson disclosed the fact to a son of Breckenridge, who had written to 
him on the subject. 

t See text, page 282. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 75 

session of Congress a repeal of the aforesaid unconstitutional 
and obnoxious acts." 

The changes in the resolutions were made in the spirit of 
Jefferson's ideas after a month of reflection. In November, 
1798, he enclosed to Madison the resolutions as he had drawn 
them, and wrote: "I think we should distinctly affirm all the 
important principles they contain, so as to hold the ground 
in future and leave the matter in such a train as that we may 
not be committed absolutely to push the matter to extremities 
and yet may be free to push as far as events will render 
prudent." This note had reference to the approaching action 
of the Virginia Legislature upon the same matter. The resolu- 
tions offered in this body by Jefferson's friend, John Taylor of 
Carolina, were more cautiously worded. Madison was their 
author. 

The effect of these two sets of resolutions upon the country 
at large must have been a source of great disappointment to 
their authors and promoters. Most of the States took no 
official notice of them. Those which did notice them did not 
commit themselves to an approval. But Jefferson was for 
keeping them to the front. In August, 1799, he wrote to 
Wilson C. Nicholas: "I am deeply impressed with the im- 
portance of Virginia and Kentucky pursuing the same track 
at the ensuing session of their legislatures. Your going thither 
furnishes a valuable opportunity of effecting it, and as Mr. 
Madison will be at our Assembly, as well as yourself, I thought 
it important to procure a meeting between you." And again, 
in September, he wrote to the same person: 'T thought some- 
thing essentially necessary to be said in order to avoid the 
influence of acquiescence; that a resolution or declaration 
should be passed, answering the reasonings of such of the 
States as have ventured into the field of reason and that of the 
committee of Congress; taking some notice, too, of those 
States who have either not answered at all, or answered without 
reasoning. * * * Expressing in affectionate and concilia- 
tory language our warm attachment to union with our sister 
States and to the instrument and principles by which we are 



'j^ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

united; * * * that not at all disposed to make every 
measure of error or of wrong a cause of scission, we are willing 
to look with indulgence or tO' wait with patience till those 
passions and delusions shall have passed over, which the Federal 
Government have artfully excited to cover its own abuses and 
conceal its designs, fully confident that the good sense of the 
American people and their attachment tO' those very rights 
which we are now vindicating, will, before it shall be too late, 
rally with us round the true principles of our Federal compact." 

The Kentucky resolutions were for a long time the com- 
pletest documentary expression of the policy of the party which 
claimed allegiance tO' Jefferson's teachings. Their nature has 
been the subject of an immense amount of discussion; Madi- 
son's idea, as embodied in the Virginia resolutions, was that 
the Federal Government should be held in check by an agree- 
ment or convention of the States, or a majority of them; Jef- 
ferson left undesignated the methods by which the States 
should hold the General Government in check. The "Kentucky 
Resolutions" may certainly, without violence to the wording, 
be regarded as teaching the right of the State to^ impose 
restraint upon a Federal law; but their failure to specify 
methods of procedure links them closely with Madison's more 
cautious views.* 

Throughout this stormy period of our history Jefferson's ten- 
sion of mind and body were extraordinary. His voluminous 
correspondence was almost entirely political. He was never 
weary of urging upon his correspondents the ardent and syste- 
matic propagation of the Republican faith. Early in January, 
he pressed Edmund Pendleton to prepare a supplement to his 
"Patriarchical Address," and to have it circulated throughout 



* Their ambiguity was forcibly illustrated in after years. Calhoun read 
in them authority for his position that any State which felt aggrieved might, 
of and by itself alone, impose an arbitrary restraint upon any Federal law, 
the restraint to take the form of a suspension or "nullification" of the law 
by the State within its jurisdiction. President Jackson, however, claiming 
to represent no less than Calhoun the teachings of Jefiferson, found in the 
resolutions no sanction for such action of the State, and did not hesitate 
to take the most resolute steps against nullification. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 77 

the country by members of Congress. Nowhere else does Jef- 
ferson arraign with more force the poHcy of his opponents, "If 
the understanding of the people could be rallied tO' the truth 
of the subject (the X. Y. Z. affair) by exposing the dupery 
practiced on them, there are so many other things about to bear 
on them favorably for the resurrection of their Republican 
spirit, that a reduction of the administration to constitutional 
principles cannot fail to be the effect. These are the Alien and 
Sedition Laws; the vexations of the Stamp Act; the disgusting 
particularities of the direct tax; the additional army without an 
enemy, and recruiting offfcers lounging at every court-house 
to decoy the laborer from his plow; a navy of fifty ships; five 
millions to be raised to build it on the usurious interest of eight 
per cent; the perseverance in war on our part when the French 
Government shows such an anxious desire to keep at peace 
with us; taxes of ten millions now paid by four millions of 
people, and yet a necessity in a year or two of raising five mil- 
lions more for annual expenses." 

A month later he wrote to Madison upon the most practical 
methods of influencing the political opinion of the country. 
"A piece published in Bache's paper on foreign influence has 
had the greatest currency and effect. * ^ * It is such 
things as these the public want. They say so from all quarters, 
and that they wish to hear reason instead of disgusting black- 
guardism. The public sentiment being on the careen and many 
heavy circumstances about to fall into the Republican scale, 
we are sensible that this summer is the season for systematic 
energies and sacrifices. The engine is the press. Every man 
must lay his purse and his pen under contribution. As to the 
former, it is possible I may be obliged to assume something 
for you. As to the latter, let me pray and beseech you to set 
apart a certain portion of ever>' post-day to wTite what may be 
proper for the public," 

After the adjournment of Congress, the relations between 
President Adams and his Cabinet became more strained than 
ever. His suspension of war preparations was recognized as a 
virtual guarantee of peace, and he was now for sending definite 



yS THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

instructions to the Envoys. Though these instructions were 
reduced to writing early in March, his departure from Wash- 
ington reheved the Cabinet of the spur of his presence, and the 
Secretary of State, on one pretext and another, delayed until 
the middle of September to send them to him for final revision. 
Even then they were accompanied by an appeal to suspend the 
mission. Mr. Adams now saw, what he had for months sus- 
pected, that his Cabinet was eager to break off all that had been 
achieved toward the establishment of peace. Thenceforward 
the firmness of his course w'as in striking contrast to the vacil- 
lating policy previously pursued. He forced the Cabinet to 
approve the instructions again drawn up, and, early in October, 
without consulting them, requested the Envoys tO' sail at as 
early a date as possible. From this action may be dated the 
President's break from the leaders of his party — a rupture fol- 
lowed by the overthrow of the Federalists and the establish- 
ment of the Jeffersonians in power. 

To dissensions in the Federalist party was added the burden 
of unpopular legislation. Jefferson and IMadison had turned the 
popular mind to the dangers to^ individual liberty proceeding 
from the Federalist legislation during Adams' term of office. 
Although the Alien and Sedition Laws were by express pro- 
vision to expire in 1800 and 1801 respectively, and although in 
reality they had been enforced in a very small number of cases, 
nevertheless the jealousy of the individual for his liberty, in the 
Federalist as well as in the Republican States, had been aroused, 
and the Republican party w^as not slow to turn it to advantage. 

Thus conditions in general seemed to point to the success of 
the RepubHcan party in the Presidential and Congressional 
campaign of 1800. In May, Jefferson had been unanimously 
nominated by the Congressional caucus for President, and 
Aaron Burr had been nominated for Vice-President. Jefferson 
was from the beginning confident of his election. In March he 
wrote to Madison: "As the conveyance is confidential, I can 
say something on a subject which to those who do not know^ 
my real disposition respecting it might seem indelicate. The 
Federalists begin to be very seriously alarmed about their elec- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 79 

tions next fall. Their speeches in private as well as their public 
and private demeanor to me indicate it strongly," 

Jefferson spent the entire summer of 1800 in close retire- 
ment. Only twice was he absent from home farther than 
Charlottesville, once to a remote point in Albemarle County, 
and once on a short visit to his Bedford estate. He was par- 
ticularly busy in his farming- operations, in his nail factory, 
and in burning bricks to complete the proposed addition to his 
house. Indefatigable biographers have found in his account- 
book an increased expenditure during the campaign in the 
matter of newspapers only. His correspondence consisted of 
but three letters from May until November. One of these is 
of interest as showing the calumny to which he was subjected, 
and his method of treating it. It had been stated by a divine 
of Connecticut in the course of a sermon that the "candidate 
of the Republican party had obtained his property by fraud 
and robbery; that in one instance he had defrauded and robbed 
a widow and fatherless children of an estate of which he was 
executor, of ten thousand pounds sterling, by keeping the prop- 
erty and paying them in money at the nominal rate when it was 
worth no more than forty for one; and that all this could be 
proved." This was made a basis of a letter of inquiry addressed 
to Jefferson directly, by a native of Connecticut, and couched 
in the most respectful terms. 

Contrary to his invariable rule in such matters, Jefferson 
put himself to the pains to set forth freely the nature of the 
only executorship he had ever held, that to his sister's property. 
He thus prefaced his statement of the circumstances in ques- 
tion: "From the moment that a portion of my fellow-citizens 
look toward me with a view to one of their highest offices, the 
flood-gates of calumny have been opened upon me; not where 
I am personally known, where their slanders would be instantly 
judged and suppressed from a general sense of their falsehood; 
but in the remote parts of the Union, where the means of 
detection are not at hand, and the trouble of an inquiry is 
greater than would suit the inhabitants to undertake. * * * 
I leave them, therefore, to the reproof of their own consciences. 



8o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

If these do not condemn them, there will yet come a day when 
the false witness will meet a judge who has not slept over his 
slanders." In conclusion he expressed a sentiment in which 
many public men have had occasion to share. "These, sir, are 
facts well known to every person in this quarter, which I have 
committed to paper for your own satisfaction and that of those 
to whom you may choose to mention them. I only pray that my 
letter may not go out of your hands, lest it should get into the 
newspapers, a bear-garden scene into which I have made it a 
point to enter on no provocation," 

Attacks upon him as "an atheist" and "French infidel" were 
also not wanting; and in September, 1800, a pamphlet was 
published in New York City by an intimate friend of General 
Hamilton, entitled "The Voice of Warning to Christians on 
the Ensuing Election." It was devoted to showing that, in 
various particulars, Jefiferson had, in his "Notes on Virginia," 
directly attacked the authenticity of the Scriptures; and it re- 
tailed many stories of Jefferson's lack of "decent respect for the 
faith and worship of Christians." Jefferson took no notice of 
these, save to allude to them in a letter to Dr. Rush. He wrote 
that the late attack of the Federalists on the freedom of the 
press "had given to the clergy a very favorite hope of obtain- 
ing an establishment of a particular form of Christianity 
throughout the United States." He added: "The returning 
good sense of our country threatens abortion to their hopes, 
and they believe that any portion of power confided to me will 
be exerted in opposition tO' their schemes. And they believe 
rightly, for I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility 
against every form of tyranny over the mind of man. But this 
is all they have to fear from me; and enough, too, in their 
opinion. And this is the cause of their printing lying pamphlets 
against me, forging conversations for me." 

The election occurred early in November, but it was not 
known until a month later that the Republican party had 
elected its candidates for President and Vice-President, and 
would have a majority in the House of Representatives. With 
this success, however, had come the apprehension within the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 8l 

party that trouble would arise from the fact that Jefiferson and 
Burr had the same number of votes in the Electoral College. 
Jefiferson clearly showed this in a letter of December 15th to 
Colonel Burr. In this he sketched the rumored policy of the 
Federalist party, which would consist of preventing the election 
of a President by the House of Representatives as well a3 by 
the Electoral College. He did not, at the time, know Burr's 
true character; but the skilful wording of the letter, and its 
evident purpose to conciliate Burr, show that he was apprehen- 
sive lest ambition should prevail with him over party fidelity. 
What passed between the two can never be definitely deter- 
mined, for neither committed anything to writing during this 
period; but one thing is clear. Burr was already deep in nego- 
tiation with the Federalists; Jefferson knew that he had been 
approached by them, and yet he was so thoroughly deceived 
as to Burr's position, that he could write to his daughter, Mrs. 
Eppes, on January 4th, 1801 : "The election is understood to 
stand 73, 73, 65, 64. Tlie Federalists were confident at first 
they could debauch Colonel B. from his good faith by offering 
him their vote to be President, and have seriously proposed it 
to him. His conduct has been honorable and decisive and 
greatly embarrasses them." It was impossible that Jefferson 
could much longer remain so completely in the dark, but even 
as late as February ist, he was still trying to maintain unbroken 
relations with Burr. He wrote to him on that date the last 
letter that was ever tO' pass between them. In it he denounced 
as a forgery a letter in his handwriting to Judge Breckenridge, 
in which Burr's character was bitterly attacked. But the day 
was past for the harmony which Jefferson hoped the letter might 
strengthen. The Federalist caucus of the House of Representa- 
tives had, by a decided majority, pledged the support of the 
party to Burr. This step had been taken despite Hamilton's 
vehement opposition. To his eternal honor Jefferson's great 
rival refused to lend his countenance to a scheme to defeat the 
will of the people, and bitterly as he hated and distrusted Jef- 
ferson, he believed him justly entitled to the office of President. 
On February nth the members of both Houses assembled in 



82 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the Senate Chamber and the electoral vote was opened and 
announced by Jefferson, presiding over the Senate. Jefferson 
and Burr had carried six States — New York, Virginia, South 
Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and had received 
8 votes from Pennsylvania, 5 from Maryland, and 8 from North 
Carolina — a total of 73. Adams had carried the seven States 
of New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, and Delaware, and had received 7 
votes from Pennsylvania, 5 from Maryland, and 4 from North 
Carolinai — a total of 65. The long apprehended tie between 
the Republican candidates had occurred, and the representa- 
tives returned to their own chamber and proceeded tO' ballot 
for President. The rules governing this had been previously 
adopted. The House was to ballot for President without inter- 
ruption by other business; the States were to vote as a whole, 
or if there were a tie in the delegations of any State, its vote 
was to be marked as "divided;" and the votes of nine States, a 
majority, were necessary to an election. 

The balloting continued, at intervals of an hour, through the 
night, and until the nineteenth ballot the result' was invariably 
the same — eight States for Jefferson, six for Burr, and two 
equally divided. It was then seen that the struggle w^ould be 
a long one, and, as John Randolph of Roanoke expressed it, 
"without adjourning, the House postponed (like able casuists) 
from day to day, the balloting." On the morning of February 
17th, on the thirty-sixth ballot, a choice was reached. Jefferson 
secured the votes of ten States, and Burr four. Two States, 
Delaware and South Carolina, deposited blank ballots. Jeffer- 
son was declared duly elected President, and the tension of the 
pubhc mind was relaxed. 

It is not generally appreciated how thoroughly aroused Jef- 
ferson was during the struggle. He felt that he had been chosen 
President by the majority of the votes of the country, and that 
unscrupulous party manipuiators were availing themselves of 
the clumsiness and inadequacy of the law, to defraud him of his 
rights. Many Federalist representatives, in their unwillingness 
to support Burr, were eagerly seeking some grounds on which 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 83 

they might give their vote to Jefferson; but he steadfastly re- 
fused to give them pledges as to his future policies, or to listen 
to their overtures. Hamilton had thus written to Wolcott: 
'There is no doubt that upon every virtuous and prudent 
calculation, Jefferson is to be preferred. He is by far not so 
dangerous a man; and he has pretensions to character. As to 
Burr, there is nothing in his favor. * * * He is truly the 
Catiline of America. * * * Better will it be to obtain 
from Jefferson assurances on some cardinal points. 

I St. The preservation of the actual fiscal system. 

2d. Adherence to the neutral plan. 

3d. The preservation and gradual increase of the navy. 

4th. The continuance of our friends in the offices they fill, 
except in the great departments, in which he ought to be left 
free." 

Among the many letters written by Jefferson during the ten 
days of the contest, the one to Monroe, February 15th, is the 
most vigorous expression of his attitude: 'Tf they could have 
been permitted to pass a law for putting the government into 
the hands of an officer, they would certainly have prevented an 
election. But we thought it best to declare openly and firm.ly, 
one and all, that the day such an act passed, the Middle States 
would arm, and that nO' such usurpation, even for a single day, 
should be submitted to. This first shook them, and they were 
completely alarmed at the resource for which we declared, to 
wit, a convention to reorganize the government and to amend 
it. The very word convention gives them the horrors, as in the 
present democratical spirit of America, they fear they should 
lose some of the favorite morsels of the Constitution. Many 
attempts have been made to obtain terms and promises from 
me. I have declared tO' them, unequivocally, that I would not 
receive the government on capitulation, that I would not go 
into it with my hands tied." 

On February 28th Jefferson, with a brief address of farewell, 
retired from the chair of the Senate. Though the four years 
during which he had presided over that body had been marked 
by a partisan heat and bitterness hitherto unknown in America, 



84 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

his conduct and rulings had not once been made the subject 
bf complaint. The answer to his address was drawn up by his 
enemies. Despite that fact, and the caution with which it is 
worded, it is truly complimentary. It may most fittingly close 
this period of his career. "Sir: — While we congratulate you 
on those expressions of the public will which called you to the 
first office in the United States, we cannot but lament the loss 
of that intelligence, attention, and impartiality with which you 
have presided over our deliberations. The Senate feel them- 
selves much gratified by the sense you have been pleased to 
express of their support in the performance of your late duties. 
Be persuaded that it will never be withheld from a chief magis- 
trate who, in the exercise of his of^ce, shall be influenced by 
a due regard to the honor and interest of our country. 

"In the confidence that your ofiicial conduct will be directed 
to these great objects, a confidence derived from past events, 
we repeat to you, sir, the assurance of our constitutional sup- 
port in your future administration." 

THE FIRST ADMINISTRATION. 

It was a striking coincidence that Jefiferson's induction into 
office, marking, as it did, the beginning of a new era in the 
government of the country, should be the first one to occur in 
the new Capital City. The removal of the offices of the Gov- 
ernment from Philadelphia to Washington had taken place in 
June, 1800, and Congress had met there in December of that 
year. Though for twelve years the site for the permanent capi- 
tal had been designated, it was still in a rude and primitive state. 
Of the residence intended for the President, Mrs. Adams, the 
first Lady of the White House, wrote in the autumn of 1800: 
"The house is made habitable, but there is not a single apart- 
ment finished. We have not the least fence, yard, or other 
convenience without, and the great unfinished audience-room 
I make a drying room of, to hang up the clothes in. The 
principal stairs are not up and will not be this winter." The 
state of the White House was much improved when Jefferson 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 85 

entered it, but as late as May he wrote of the town: "This may 
be considered as a pleasant country residence with a number 
of neat little villages scattered around within a distance of a 
mile and a half and furnishing a plain and substantially good 
society. They have begun their buildings in about four or five 
different points, and at each of which there are buildings enough 
to be considered as a village. The whole population is about 
six thousand." 

The primitive nature of the surroundings was not distasteful 
to the newly-elected President, and the ceremonies of his 
inauguration were strictly in keeping with them. A half royal 
dignity had characterized the inauguration of Washington and 
Adams. Jefferson would have none of this. The story, how- 
ever, that "he rode on horseback to the Capitol without a single 
guard or servant in his train, dismounted without assistance, 
and hitched the bridle of his horse to the palisades," rests solely 
upon the assertion of an English traveler wliO' thought thereby 
to amuse his own people. The facts were truly stated in a 
dispatch of Mr. Thornton, then in charge of the British lega- 
tion, to Lord Grenville, Foreign Secretary in Pitt's administra- 
tion: "He came from his own lodgings to the house where 
the Congress convenes and which goes by the name of the 
Capitol, on foot, in his ordinary dress, escorted by a. body of 
militia artillery from the neighboring State, and accompanied 
by the Secretaries of the Navy and the Treasury and a number 
of his political friends in the House of Representatives." 

The inaugural ceremonies were held in the Senate Chamber, 
in the presence of the national officials and a throng of specta- 
tors. The address* was a complete summary of his political 
faith. It was lengthy and highly rhetorical, but kindly and 
tolerant. It touched skilfully upon the recent heated contest, 
attempted to show why no spirit except that of unity and hope 
should fill the bosoms of victors and vanquished alike, and 
enumerated what its author deemed "the essential principles of 
our government." After the inaugural, Jefiferson, by a strange 



*See text, page 245. 



86 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

irony, received the: oath of office from Chief Justice Marshall, 
a man whose political principles he held in the deepest detesta- 
tion. Adams, it was well known, had thrown away all courtesy 
toward his successor and had raised Marshall to his new dignity 
after Jefferson's election, with the unconcealed purpose of 
checking, in one department of government at least, the over- 
whelming tide of Jefifersonianism. Marshall had accepted the 
appointment with as little scruple as it was tendered, and thus 
was begun a conflict which was to survive the last trace of Fed- 
eralism and outlive even that particular form of Jeffersonianism 
which Marshall was appointed to oppose. 

The President selected as his Cabinet James Madison of Vir- 
ginia, Secretary of State; Albert Gallatin of Pennsylvania, Sec- 
retary of the Treasury; Henry Dearborn of Massachusetts, 
Secretary of War; Levi Lincoln of Massachusetts, Attorney 
General; Robert Smith of Maryland, Secretary of the Navy. 
Gideon Granger of Connecticut was appointed Postmaster Gen- 
eral late in the year. In the selection of these men Jefferson 
showed great skill and prudence. It was an able and responsible 
body. With the exception of Madison, they represented those 
States which were wavering in their allegiance to Federalism, 
and which he thought could be won to the Republican standard. 
Each was chosen on the ground of peculiar fitness. In the 
appointment of Gallatin, personal considerations reinforced Jef- 
ferson's appreciation of his ability. Gallatin had suffered much 
misrepresentation for his connection with the Whisky Rebel- 
lion. In Jefferson's opinion the Alien Act had been aimed at 
him as the most eminent citizen of foreign birth distasteful to the 
Federalists. His appointment was, therefore, in the nature of a 
reward for persecution. 

During the first months of his administration Jefferson was 
kept busy answering congratulatory letters from individuals 
and associations in all parts of the country. It was a task to 
which he addressed himself with undisguised pleasure, for it 
afforded him an opportunity to show his thorough-going 
democracy. His answers were reproductions in little of his 
Inaugural Address. He was never weary of repeating his con- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 87 

fidence in the patriotism of the great body of Federalists. His 
election, to his mind, meant a new era in the government of 
the United States and even in that of the world. To his old 
Revolutionary friend, John Dickinson, he wrote: "A just and 
solid Republican government maintained here will be a stand- 
ing monument and example for the aim and imitation of the 
people of other countries; and I join with you in the hope 
and belief that they will see from our example that a free gov- 
ernment is of all others the most energetic; that the inquiry 
that has been excited among the mass of mankind by our 
Revolution and its consequence will ameliorate the condition 
of man over a great portion of the globe." 

These letters are also full of a subject which necessarily arose 
with the incoming of the new party. It was the subject of 
removals from and appointments to office.* Jefferson's atti- 
tude on this question was, throughout, one of firmness and con- 
sistency. When his election by the House of Representatives 
hung in the balance, he had refused to bind himself to retain 
Federalist office-holders in their positions. Now that he had 
v.-on, he as stoutly refused to yield to the importunities of those 
members of his own party who clamored for the dismissal of 
their opponents. In assuming this position, the tolerance with 
which he regarded the body of Federalists naturally played a 
large part. Nevertheless, he did not see his way to purchase 
their favor by undue concessions. As early as March 7th, he 
wrote to Monroe: "To give time for a perfect consideration 
seems prudent. I have firmly refused to follow the counsels of 
those who have desired the giving offices to some of their 
leaders in order to reconcile. I have given and will give only 
to Republicans under existing circumstances. * * * Some 
deprivations of office I know must be made. They must be as 
few as possible, done gradually, and bottomed on some mal- 
versation or inherent disqualification. \Miere we shall draw 
the line between retaining all and none is not yet settled, and 
will not be till we get our administration together; and perhaps 



*See Offices, page 322. Also Nepotism, page 318; and Civil Service, 
page 156. 



88 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

even then we shall proceed a talons, balancing our measures 
according to the impression we perceive them to make." He 
did not, however, regard it as a violation of this moderate 
course to remove arbitrarily such persons as had been appointed 
to office by his predecessor since the election of the preceding 
November. These appointments he regarded as made in open 
defiance of the popular will. Again and again he denounced the 
conduct of Adams in this respect. To Knox, his former col- 
league in Washington's Cabinet, he wrote: "In the class of 
removals I do not rank the new appointments which Mr. A. 
crowded in with whip and spur from the 12th of December, 
when the event of the election was known, and consequently 
that he was making appointments not for himself but his suc- 
cessor, until nine o'clock of the night at twelve o'clock of which 
he was to^ go- out of office. This outrage on decency should 
not have its effect except in the life appointments w^hich are 
irremovable; but as to the others I consider the nominations 
as nullities, and will not view the persons appointed as even 
candidates for their office, much less as possessing it by any 
title meriting respect. I mention these things that the grounds 
and the extent of the removals may be understood and may not 
disturb the tendency to union." 

In reference to appointments to office he wTote to his old 
scientific friend Dr. Rush of Philadelphia: "1 have no doubt 
the Federalists will concur in the fairness of the position that 
after they have been in the exclusive possession of all offices 
from the very first origin of party among us to the 3d of 
March at nine o'clock in the night, no Republican ever ad- 
mitted and this doctrine newly avowed, it is now perfectly just 
that the Republicans should come in for the vacancies which 
may fall in until something like an equilibrium in office be 
restored." 

The most notable instance of the application of his views was 
that of the collectorship of New Haven. Adams had made an 
appointment to the post the day after Jeft'erson's election. Jef- 
ferson calmly ignored this appointment and dated a new com- 
mission from the death of the former incumbent. His appointee 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 89 

had been a most active Republican and was peculiarly odious to 
the commercial element of the city. A formal remonstrance 
was forwarded to Jefferson, and this, coupled with the import- 
ance of the office, moved him, for the only time in his career, 
to send back a reply. He was not content with a mere defense 
of his appointment; he went further and assumed the aggres- 
sive, concluding with the words: ''I shall correct the procedure 
of Mr. Adams; but that done, return with joy to that state of 
things when the only question concerning a candidate shall be, 
Is he honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitu- 
tion?" 

When Congress met in December the Republicans had for 
the first time a majority in both Houses, There proceedings 
were not, as under the former administrations, opened with a 
set speech from the President. Jefferson regarded this as the 
chief of the ceremonials which he wished to end; and he trans- 
mitted to each House a written message, explaining in a brief 
note to the President of the Senate his reasons for changing the 
custom. This was in harmony with a systematic plan to check 
the tendency of his predecessors to exalt the executive above 
the legislative department and above private citizens. His 
first message was concerned entirely with domestic affairs. The 
note which strikes most forcibly the reader of the present day 
is its advocacy of economy* along all lines of public expendi- 
ture. To this end Jefferson suggested a thorough revision of 
the civil service, the army, and the navy. Significant sug- 
gestions were made as to the action Congress might take on the 
judiciary system, and especially "that portion of it recently 
erected." A revisal of the harsh naturalization laws was recom- 
mended. Throughout the whole message it was evident that 
Jefferson wished to undo as far as possible the legislation of 
the preceding administration. 

These recommendations were closely followed by Congress. 
The very first one of them was a sharp rebuke to the Federalists. 
By an almost strict party vote, newspaper reporters were ad- 



"See Economy, page 193. 



90 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

mitted unconditionally to the sessions of both Houses. This 
was intended to win to the Republican party the press which, 
except in New England, had been alienated from the Federalists 
by the Sedition Act. The Judiciary Act of the preceding ses- 
sion, by which the scope of the Federal courts had been ex- 
tended and sixteen circuits had been established, was repealed, 
and a bill passed establishing six districts instead. The natu- 
ralization laws which had prevailed in Washington's time were 
restored. The internal taxes were abolished and measures were 
begun looking toward the gradual dismissal of the officials 
connected with them. The army was reduced to three thou- 
sand men and the appropriation for the navy was made very 
small. In short, the legislative and executive departments were 
as completely one as Republican taunts had represented them 
to be under Adams. Many of the members of both Houses 
were in close personal touch with Jefferson; and there was, 
as yet, no dissatisfaction with the autocratic power he exerted 
over his party. 

Before Congress adjourned in May, intelligence had reached 
the United States which diverted the attention of the President 
from purely domestic affairs, and suggested to him a Hne of 
foreign policy different from that hitherto pursued. News came 
that Spain had ceded Louisiana and Florida back to France. 
Jefferson saw that his opportunity had come to set about secur- 
ing control of the Mississippi River — a dream cherished from 
the time of his residence in France. Madison was at once 
directed to draw up for Livingston, the American Minister in 
Paris, instructions based upon a full statement of the economic 
and political results which must come from the retrocession of 
Louisiana.* His instructions covered the securing by the United 
States of just and permanent rights of navigation O'U the IMissis- 
sippi and the right of deposit near its mouth. The acquirement 
of the island of New Orleans was urged. Jefferson himself 
added a letter, whose threatening tone differentiated it from 
the cautious one of Madison. Livingston was to press the 



*See Louisiana, page 298. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 91 

French Government. He was to dwell upon the natural and 
unchangeable friendship which ought to prevail between the 
two countries; but he was, at the same time, to emphasize the 
fact that this friendship had been seriously imperiled by the 
acquisition by France of New Orleans — "the one single spot on 
the globe the possessor of which is our natural and habitual 
enemy," Spain, Jefferson continued, might have held it for- 
ever, unmolested by the United States; but France was too 
dangerous a neighbor, because too powerful and restless. Pro- 
ceeding from this statement of facts, Jefferson did not scruple 
to avail himself of the precarious state of the foreign relations of 
France. "The day that France takes possession of New Orleans 
fixes the sentence which is to restrain her forever within her 
low-water mark. It seals the union of two nations who in con- 
junction can maintain exclusive possession of the ocean. From 
that moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and 
nation." He intimated, however, the possibility of a com- 
promise by which France might retain the whole Louisiana 
Territory while ceding to the United States the island of New 
Orleans and the Floridas; but even this he feared would be 
but a "temporary palliation." He expected that the reduction of 
Santo Domingo, then in fierce revolt under Toussaint L'Ouver- 
ture against the rule of Bonaparte, would be no short work, 
and that Livingston would have "time to return again and 
again to the charge." 

This letter moved Livingston to the utmost exertion. He 
had found all the prominent circles of France hostile to his 
country — the result of Talleyrand's spite — and, what more 
nearly concerned his task, he had found the colonization of the 
Louisiana Territory a favorite scheme of Bonaparte, for reasons 
both of profit and of sentiment. At first, therefore, he made 
but little progress in his negotiation. A second communica- 
tion from Jefferson, in October, brought no definite instructions 
to aid him, but merely expressed extreme suspicion of France 
and enjoined upon the IMinister the utmost caution. 

A month later an event occurred which brought before the 
public that which had hitherto engaged the thoughts of the 



92 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

President and the Cabinet alone. The Spanish Intendant (still 
in control in Louisiana) withdrew the privilege of deposit at 
New Orleans. — a privilege granted to citizens of the United 
States by the Treaty of 1795, and not to be taken away without 
conceding "an equivalent on another part of the bank of the 
Mississippi." This stipulation was wholly disregarded. The 
act caused the greatest excitement in the Western States. 
Kentucky was especially aroused. Its Governor informed the 
President of the infraction of the treaty, and its legislature 
memoriaHzed Congress in reference to it. 

The President was resolved not to be forced into taking 
premature action upon anything that concerned Louisiana. It 
was absolutely necessary that his plan should have time to ripen. 
Though the action of the Spanish Intendant was a matter of 
universal discussion, Jefferson ignored it in his message of 
December, 1802, and his allusion to the retrocession of Louisi- 
ana had little meaning. The House of Representatives, how- 
ever, grew restless, and requested the documents relative to the 
action of the Spanish official. Jefferson made a feint of indulg- 
ing this request and transmitted to them an account drawn up 
by Madison. But this threw no new light on the matter; its 
substance had long before been printed in the newspapers. In 
a word, Jefferson was employing dilatory tactics to keep the 
country quiet. The Republicans connived at this course, but 
the Federalists in the House endeavored to force the President 
to disclose his policy. Early in June, they moved that the 
President be called upon to produce all official documents re- 
lating to the retrocession of Louisiana. The Republicans 
rallied to their leader and the motion was voted down. The 
administration was thus committed to a policy of secrecy, a 
policy which the Republican party while in opposition had 
furiously assailed when the Jay treaty was under consideration. 

Though voted down, the Federalists felt that they had won a 
moral victory, and they immediately moved the passage of 
strong resolutions demanding for the people of the United 
States the free navigation of the Mississippi River. But the 
majority had no mind to let the Federalist party by premature 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 93 

action defeat the President's plans, or, if they were successful, 
to profit by them. They refused to take up the resolutions of 
the Federalists and passed a resolution of "perfect confidence 
in the vigilance and wisdom of the Executive." 

The overwhelming power of the administration had been 
shown, and all intermeddling by Congress effectually checked, 
but the popular pressure from the West was daily increasing, 
and its temper was seriously affecting the East. Some move 
had to be made by the Executive; and, on January nth, the 
President nominated R. R. Livingston to be "Minister Pleni- 
potentiary and James Monroe to be Minister Extraordinary and 
Plenipotentiary, with full powers * * * |-q enter into a 
treaty or convention with the First Consul of France for the 
purpose of enlarging and more effectually securing our rights 
and interests in the river Mississippi and in the Territories east- 
ward thereof." As Spain had not yet formally transferred 
Louisiana, he at the same time nominated Monroe and Charles 
Pinckney to have like powers at the Court of Spain, if it should 
be necessary. The Senate immediately confirmed the nomina- 
tions. 

Jefferson's letter to IMonroe, begging him to accept the 
appointment, admitted that the measure was aimed, primarily, 
to quiet the country-. "Remonstrances, memorials, etc., are now 
circulating through the whole of the western country, and 
signed by the body of people. The measures we have been 
pursuing, being invisible, do not satisfy their minds. Some- 
thing sensible, therefore, has become necessary. * * * j^ 
was essential, then, to send a Minister Extraordinary to be 
joined with the ordinary one, with discretionary powers. * * * 
The measure has already silenced the Federalists here. Con- 
gress will no longer be agitated by them; and the country 
will become calm as fast as the information extends over it." 
That Jefferson was trying to gain time and was playing home 
politics is shown by the fact that Monroe did not get his in- 
structions and sail before the second week of March. 

The Federalist opposition was now centered in fanning the 
war spirit of the West against Spain. $2,000,000 had been 



94 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

appropriated, in secret session, "to defray the expenses which 
might be incurred in relation to the intercourse between the 
United States and foreign nations." This the FederaUsts at- 
tacked as designed for corruption money at the Courts of 
France and Spain. The administration, they claimed, was 
sacrificing the interests of the western States and was meekly 
purchasing that which, by a rigorous policy, would be ours of 
right. But their assaults had little efifect. At no other period 
of his career was Jefferson's personal influence more clearly 
shown than now, w^hen, without a definite policy, and without 
committing himself to a single promise, he held in check the 
restless West. 

Monroe's instructions covered merely the securing of the 
island of New Orleans and the Floridas. Failing in this he was 
to stipulate for the right of deposit near the mouth of the 
Mississippi. So moderate were Jefferson's demands that he did 
not stickle for the precise place of deposit. If New Orleans 
could not be secured, Natchez would be a satisfactory substi- 
tute. The French were to be admitted to Louisiana without 
condition. The instructions contained nothing that Bonaparte 
could have regarded as in the least hostile to his plans. No 
provision was made for action in case Bonaparte should refuse 
the concessions asked. Indeed, Jefferson did not want action. 
It was after Monroe had landed in France that Madison, by 
the President's direction, instructed Monroe and Livingston, 
as soon as they should find that no arrangements could be made 
with France, "to use all possible procrastination with them, 
and in the meantime to enter into conference with the British 
Government, through their ambassador at Paris, to fix prin- 
ciples of alliance, and leave us in peace till Congress meets; and 
prevent war till next spring." 

But Monroe and Livingston had closed the matter before 
these last instructions left America. Indeed, none of the in- 
structions which Monroe actually bore with him had any bearing 
on the final agreement with France. On reaching Paris, he 
found that events had brought the negotiations to a point 
beyond his power to make or mar them. In January, the news 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 95 

had reached Paris that the French army in Santo Domingo 
was annihilated, the island devastated, and the rebellious blacks 
further beyond control than they had ever been. To recover 
the island would now cost far more than it was worth. With it 
lost, Louisiana, which Bonaparte intended should feed and 
fortify it, was of no further use to him, and the abandonment 
of Louisiana would serve well to cloak the abandonment of 
Santo Domingo. Giving up Santo Domingo meant the sever- 
ance of French traditions, and the confession of failure in an 
enterprise upon which the pride of the nation was staked. 
Bonaparte kept up appearances of a vigorous colonial policy 
several months longer, but his mind was made up to withdraw 
from the island. He declared the long contemplated war against 
England and sounded Talleyrand as to the expediency of selling 
Louisiana. The wily Minister divined the wish of his master 
and hurried negotiations. Livingston wrote to Madison: "Mr. 
Talleyrand asked me this day, when pressing the subject, 
whether we wished to have the whole of Louisiana. I told him 
no, that our wishes extended only to New Orleans and the 
Floridas; that the policy of France, however, should dictate to 
give us the country above the River Arkansas in order to place 
a barrier between them and Canada. He said that if they gave 
New Orleans the rest would be of little value, and that he would 
wish to know 'what we would give for the whole.' I told him 
it was a subject I had not thought of, but that I supposed we 
should not object to twenty millions (francs) provided our citi- 
zens were paid. He told me this was too low an offer. I told 
him that as Mr. ^Monroe would be in town in two days, I would 
delay my further offer until I had the pleasure of introducing 
him." 

On ]\Ionroe's arrival, he and Livingston passed a week 
haggling over the price named by Bonaparte — one hundred 
millions of francs and the payment by America of their own 
citizens' claims. The American envoys finally succeeded in 
reducing it to sixty millions, and the payment of claims to the 
amount of twenty milhoiis more — a total of $15,000,000. 

To Livingston more than to any ether man was due a diplo- 



96 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

matic success whicn no other American envoy has ever been 
able to dnphcate. Events, it is true, had conspired to bring it 
about; but, so far as one man could by prudence and discretion 
avail himself of events, Livingston had done so. Monroe's 
popularity in France had added absolutely no weight to the 
mission. Hardly, however, had the treaty been signed and dis- 
patched to America, before Livingston felt that Monroe was 
destined to- enjoy the credit of it. The news from America 
served only to confirm this apprehension. Even the President, 
complacently identifying his own claims with Monroe's, lent 
his personal influence to appreciate Monroe's services to the 
disparagement of Livingston's. He wrote General Gates: "I 
find our opposition is very willing to pluck feathers from Mon- 
roe, although not fond of sticking them into Livingston's coat. 
The truth is, both have a just portion of merit; and were it 
necessary or proper, it would be shown that each has rendered 
peculiar services and of important value. These grumblers, too, 
are very uneasy lest the administration should share some little 
credit for the acquisition, the whole of which they ascribe to 
the accident of war. They would be cruelly mortified could 
they see our files from May, 1801, the first organization of the 
administration, but more especially from April, 1802. They 
W'ould see that though we could not say when war would arise, 
yet we said with energy wdiat would take place when it should 
arise. We did not, by our intrigues, produce the war; but we 
availed ourselves of it when it happened." Such also was the 
tone of the correspondence maintained among the partisans of 
the President. From June 30th, when the news was divulged, 
nothing was heard but praise of the great leader who had 
brought about such magnificent results; and Jefferson could 
hardly have been expected to exert himself to disabuse the 
public mind. Those of the Republicans who had their mis- 
givings kept them to themselves; and the murmurings of the 
Federalist opposition were drowned in "the cheers and con- 
gratulations of the happiest society the world then knew." 

But amid it all the Republican leaders could not lose sight of 
their own inconsistency. Such an extension of Executive power 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 97 

was totally at variance with the rigidly strict construction of 
the Constitution which they had taught so long. Jefferson him- 
self felt that he had overstepped the bounds of the Constitu- 
tion, and called an extra session of Congress. To Breckenridge, 
a member of this Congress, he wrote: "Both Houses, I pre- 
sume, will see their duty to their country in ratifying and paying 
for it, so as to secure a good which would otherwise probably 
be never again in their power. But I suppose they must then ap- 
peal to the nation for an additional article to the Constitution 
approving and confirming an act which the nation had not 
previously authorized. The Constitution has made no provision 
for our holding foreign territory, still less for incorporating 
foreign nations into our Union. The Executive, in seizing 
the fugitive occurrence which so much advances the good of 
his country, has done that beyond the Constitution. The 
Legislature, in casting behind them' metaphysical subtleties 
and risking themselves like faithful servants, must ratify and pay 
for it and throw themselves on their country. It is the case 
of a guardian investing the money of his ward in purchasing an 
important adjacent territory, and saying to him, when of age, 
'I did this for your good; I pretend to no right to bind you, 
you may disavow me and I must get out of the scrape as I can ; 
I thought it my duty to risk myself for you.' " He sketched 
to the Attorney-General the form of the amendment he desired, 
but concluded: "I quote this for your consideration, observing 
that the less that is said about any constitutional difficulty the 
better; and that it will be desirable for Congress to do what 
is necessary in silence. I find but one opinion as to the neces- 
sity of shutting up the country for some time." 

A week later he wrote, still more urgently, to Nicholas, one 
of the Senators from Virginia: "You will obsen-e a hint in 
Monroe's letter, enclosed, to do without delay what we are 
bound to do. There is reason, in the opinion of our Ministers, 
to believe that if the thing were to do over again it could not 
be obtained and that, if we give the least opening, they will 
declare the treaty void. * * * Whatever Congress shall 
think it necessary to do, should be done with as little debate as 



98 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

possible, and particularly so far as respects constitutional diffi- 
culty. I had rather ask an enlargement of power from the 
nation, where it is found necessary, than to assume it by a con- 
struction which would make our powers boundless. Our pecul- 
iar security is in the possession of a written Constitution. Let 
us not make it a blank paper by construction.! * * * jf^ 
however, our friends shall think differently, certainly I shall 
acquiesce with satisfaction, confiding that the good sense of our 
country will correct the evil of construction when it shall pro- 
duce ill effects." 

The President's message to Congress reviewed the negotia- 
tions leading up to the purchase, but had not a word to say of 
any constitutional obstacle to its ratification. The question of 
constitutionality he shifted to the shoulders of others. The 
ensuing debate shows how closely the arguments of the opposi- 
tion unconsciously followed the lines of Jefferson's secret ad- 
missions to his friends. John Randolph, the administrative 
leader, moved that the treaty be carried into effect, and it was 
iminediately taken up. The speeches of the opposition taxed 
the powers of the best Republican debaters. They skilfully con- 
centrated their attacks upon the very feature of the treaty on 
which its advocates knew themselves to be weakest — the 
pledge to admit the people of Louisiana into- the Union. But 
no logic or oratory could shake the determination of the 
majority. The passage of Randolph's resolution was a fore- 
gone conclusion; and after one day's debate, it was passed by a 
strict party vote of 90 to 25. 

The debate in the Senate followed much the same lines as in 
the House, with the exception of two speeches. Tracy, of Con- 
necticut, gave a sectional turn to it by declaring that "the relative 
strength which this admission gives to a southern and western 
interest is contradictory to the principles of our original Union. 
To admit Louisiana — a world, and such a world — into our 
Union would be absorbing the Northern States." John Quincy 
Adams, elected as a moderate Federalist, held a unique view. 



tSee Constitutionality, page 174. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 99 

He was Republican in favoring the purchase; Federalist in argu- 
ing that the treaty was outside of the Constitution; Jeffersonian, 
finally, in trying to save the old theory of the Constitution and 
in urging an amendment to that instrument. The debate in 
the Senate was, on the Federalist side, more vigorous and able 
than it had been in the House, and the Republican Senators 
were driven to an embarrassment they could not hide. The 
bill passed again by a strict party vote. 

Thus the treaty was ratified; but the constitutional difficulty 
was still unsettled. The dominant party had simply allowed 
the magnitude of the interest at stake to over-shadow all other 
considerations. Tliey had not had the candor to acknowledge 
that the Constitution had provided for no such case nor the 
courage and consistency to go before the States for instructions. 
The acquisition doubled the area of the country and secured 
control of all the great river systems of North America. It 
was not surprising, therefore, that the overwhelming majority of 
the people of the United States, dazzled by a material gain so 
stupendous, were in no mind to engage in hair-splitting refine- 
ments over constitutional difficulties, or in gloomy forebodings 
as to the viciousness of the precedent thus set. 

In March, 1804, a bill conferring upon the President auto- 
cratic power for the goveniment of the purchased territory- 
was forced through Congress. The pledge to France that the 
people of Louisiana should be admitted as citizens of the United 
States was kept only in so far as it granted an ultimate possi- 
bility of attaining statehood ; but in the intermediate stage 
the pledge was certainly violated, for the territorial government 
established was one in which the people of Louisiana had abso- 
lutely no share. 

Congress, in 1804, for the first time, was brought face to face 
with the matter of impeachment. The President had submitted 
letters and affidavits against Pickering, a Federal judge, charg- 
ing him with drunkenness and illegal and disorderly conduct. 
Judge Pickering, though summoned, did not appear, but a peti- 
tion was presented from his son begging a postponement 
of the proceedings in order that proof of his insanity might 



100 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

be coljected. The petition was refused, but convincing testi- 
mony of his insanity was admitted. As the Judge had not re- 
signed, the Senate felt justified in proceeding with the trial. 
Pickering was declared "guilty as charged," and w-as removed 
from office. The House also ordered articles oi impeachment 
to be drawn up against Samuel Chase, one of the Associate Jus- 
tices of the Supreme court, and his trial was set for the next 
session. Though not originating wuth the President, as had 
the trial of Pickering, the measure was known to be acceptable 
to him, for he had been among the first to call attention to a 
charge delivered by Judge Chase to the grand jury at Baltimore 
in April, 1803. Chase had taken occasion to denounce from 
the bench the democratic tendencies of the Government, an 
act which Jefferson deemed a "seditious and official attack on 
the principles of our Constitution and on the proceedings of a 
State." 

Before Congress adjourned in the spring of 1804, the Repub- 
lican caucus unanimously re-nominated Jefferson for President. 
Burr was completely ignored as a candidate for the second place, 
and George Clinton, of New York, was named. The Federalist 
caucus put forward C. C. Pinckney, of South Carolina, for Presi- 
dent and Rufus King, of New York, for Vice-President. 

Immediately after the adjournment of Congress, Jefiferson was 
summoned to Monticello by the illness of his younger daughter, 
Mrs. Eppes. She died on April 17th, leaving two young children. 
Jefi'erson in the loss of this child experienced a sorrow such as 
he had not felt since the death of his wife. Letters of condolence 
poured in from his early friends, among them one from Mrs. 
John Adams, in whose care Mrs. Eppes had been placed when, 
as a child of ten years, she had sailed to join her father, then 
Minister to France. Adams himself had felt great bitterness 
against Jefferson since the inauguration of the latter, and Mrs. 
Adams shared in her husband's bitterness, but sincere grief and 
sympathy enabled her to overcome her hesitation. Jefferson 
repHed in a most affectionate strain, and a correspondence en- 
sued in which were reviewed the causes of the alienation be- 
tween two men once so close to each other. But Mrs. Adams 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON lOl 

was still unsatisfied, and the correspondence ceased. It seemed 
devoid of results at the time, but in years to come it formed 
the basis of a lasting reconciliation. 

Before the Presidential election, the constitutional amend- 
ment changing the method of voting for President and Vice- 
President, had been adopted by every State. Under its work- 
ings Jefferson and Clinton icceived 162 electoral votes and 
Pinckney and King only 14. 

The event of the session of the Congress that met in No- 
vember was the impeachment trial of Justice Chase. In Feb- 
ruary, 1805, the case was opened in the Senate Chamber by 
the managers from the House. From the beginning the Re- 
publican prosecution had recognized that they had attempted 
too much. They themselves were uncertain in their views of 
what an impeachment meant, and even the charges embraced 
no offense known to the statute books or to the common law. 
The array of counsel for the defendant far outweighed that of 
the prosecution in talents and legal learning. As in the trial 
of Pickering, so now, the form in which the Senate should put 
its final judgment was of vital importance. The Senate agreed 
that it should answer the question, "Is Samuel Chase guilty 
or not guilty of a high crime or misdemeanor as charged in the 
article just read?" When they came to a vote, the Senate ac- 
quitted the defendant on every charge, nearly one-fourth of the 
Republican Senators voting in the negative. John Randolph 
was deeply chagrined at the result. Jefferson had held himself 
aloof from the trial, and his correspondence does not show 
that he was in the least irritated or disappointed by the acquittal. 
His indifference cut Randolph, whose heart was set upon a con- 
viction, to the quick, and from the trial of Chase may be dated 
the beginning of the fierce and dramatic opposition which Ran- 
dolph led against the President. 

THE SECOND ADMINISTRATION. 

On March 4th. 1805, Jefferson for the second time took the oath 
of office as President of the United States. His inausfural was 



I02 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

merely a review of the administratiorv just ended, and was far 
below his first inaug-ural in breadth and power. Touching the 
Louisiana purchase, he adopted the broad and indefinite ground 
on which Congress had confirmed it, and gave no intimation 
that he had ever held a different view. ''I know," said he, "that 
the acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some from 
a candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory 
would endanger its union. But who can limit the extent to 
which the federative principle may operate effectively? The 
larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local passions; 
and in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank of the 
Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and children, 
than by strangers of another family?" 

The summer of 1805 saw concluded the Tripolitan war. In 
the conduct of this war the President had, for four years, sys- 
tematically reversed his cherished policy of peace. The war 
had been marked by splendid deeds of courage on the part of 
the little navy. After a long series of hostilities, Dernah, the 
second city of importance in Tripoli, had been captured by a co- 
operation of the American forces with Hamet, the rightful 
Pasha, against his usurping brother Jussuff. The expedition 
was conducted by Gen. Eaton, United States Consul at Tunis. 
Despite the uniform success of the American arms, however, 
the United States Consul General at Algiers weakly concluded 
with Jussuff a treaty which deserted Hamet, compelled Eaton to 
quit Dernah, and, though it relieved the United States Govern- 
ment of further payment of tribute, it did. so only on the condi- 
tion of paying to the pirate nation $60,000 for the ransom of the 
ofificers and crew of the "Philadelphia." The four years' war 
had cost heavily in money and lives, but the navy had gained 
what it lacked before — discipline and experience in real fighting. 
These results, however, were not in Jefferson's mind when he 
began it, and the final treaty to which he gave his consent was 
no more than a compromise. 

Hardly had Jefferson been inaugurated before relations, not 
only with England, but with France and Spain, assumed a ser- 
ious aspect. In the early summer of 1805, there were indications 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 103 

that France, now under the Emperor Napoleon, was inciting 
Spain to make trouble over the Louisiana Purchase, under the 
pretext of uncertainty as to the boundaries of the territory 
conveyed. Jefferson was for applying the old threat of a mari- 
time alliance with England; but as Spain became more insolent 
on the southwestern frontier, he gave up the idea of coercing 
Napoleon, and determined to ask his mediation for purchasing 
the two Floridas from Spain. He did not dare to suggest the 
purchase to Congress formally, but sent to the House a batch of 
papers bearing on the matter, with an injunction of secrecy. 
John Randolph as chairman of the committee to which they 
were referred, learned the President's plan in an interview with 
him. He refused utterly to give it his sanction and, heading 
a few dissatisfied members, called the "Quids," broke from the 
government. He was supported by the Federalists for the rest 
of the session. In spite of this alliance, however, the President 
had a bill for the purchase forced through both Houses. 

In the meantime the battle of Trafalgar had occurred October 
2 1 St, 1805, and Napoleon's sea power had been annihilated. Jef- 
ferson, nevertheless, continued to conciliate him, and had a 
bill passed prohibiting all trade with any port in the island of 
Santo Domingo over which the French flag did not fly. Eng- 
land now set herself to ruin the American carrying trade, which 
in the last few years had come to be almost the only means 
of communication between the nations of Europe and their 
colonial dependencies. She established blockades of all French 
colonies, and later of the Straits of Dover and the English chan- 
nel. All rights of neutrals were at an end. All previous de- 
cisions of the Admiralty Courts of England touching American 
shipping were reversed, and seizure and confiscation in all waters 
were the order of the day. The distress among the seafaring 
and commercial citizens of the Atlantic seaboard was extreme, 
and Congress was besieged with memorials, petitions, and ex- 
hortations for relief. Jefferson left the problem with Congress. 
After months of debate and uncertainty. Congress passed a Non- 
Importation Bill, forbidding the importation of certain articles 
from England and her dependencies, after November 15th, 1806. 



104 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

The measure met the fiercest opposition from Randolph's fol- 
lowers and the Federalists. 

Randolph's defection was not unexpected. He had been rest- 
less ever since the consummation of the Louisiana purchase; 
and the indifference of the President to the outcome of the 
trial of Justice Chase had sorely wounded him in his most vul- 
nerable point — his vanity. Jefferson affected to despise his op- 
position on the ground of his well known unreliability and vacil- 
lation, but it can hardly be doubted that the President at first 
looked with real alarm upon this defection. It was the first to 
occur, after a whole administration of concord; and its head 
was the former administrative leader in the House. When, 
however, its harmless character was shown by the overwhelm- 
ing majority which the administration at all times controlled, 
Randolph turned tO' intrigues by which he hoped to defeat one 
of the President's cherished plans. Early in 1805, Jefferson had 
made known his intention of retiring at the end of his second 
term, and it was understood that he favored Madison as his 
successor. Randolph had a profound contempt for Madison, 
and he immediately took up Monroe, then at Madrid, as an op- 
position candidate. He wrote Monroe letters couched in terms 
of most arrant flattery. Monroe, however, was too cautious to 
antagonize the President; and all Randolph's communications 
were made known to Jefferson. While Jefferson did not fear 
Randolph alone, he would have feared Randolph if aided by 
Monroe; and his letters to Monroe cautioned him to be wary of 
Randolph. Thus there was forced upon the President a course 
of petty intrigue tO' which he had been a stranger during his 
first administration. 

An event now occurred which inflamed the country's irrita- 
tion against England. British warships had for months been 
cruising around the ports of the United States, stopping coast- 
ers, seizing merchant-men, searching all ships for deserters, and 
impressing citizens of the United States. All these indignities 
had been tamely borne, but in April, 1806, an outrage was per- 
petrated which could not be overlooked. A warship, the Lean- 
der, without provocation fired into a coasting vessel off Sandy 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 105 

Hook and killed one of her crew. The most intense excitement 
ensued. The President immediately issued a proclamation call- 
ing for the arrest of the Lcander's commander, and prohibiting 
the furnishing of all supplies to her and to two other British 
vessels in her company. The United States Minister in England 
was immediately notified and instructed as to what reparation 
to demand from that government. 

In the midst of such disturbed foreign relations, Jefferson's 
Government was menaced by a danger at home, which 
seemed to strike at the very integrity of the Union. Aaron 
Burr was again to figure as the evil genius of the administra- 
tion. As Vice-President he had been regarded as a man with- 
out a party; his ambition in New York State had been thwarted 
by Hamilton; and he had killed Hamilton in a duel. Though 
under indictment for murder, he sat as Vice-President during 
the session of 1804-5; ^"<^ i^"^ "^^^^ early spring of 1805, he had 
gone west, avowing to his intimates that he had forever done 
with life in the United States. Many rumors were current as 
to the projects on which he was engaged, but men agreed in 
ascribing to him plans for the conquest of Mexico from Spain. 
It was also a matter of common report that he had spent much 
time with General Wilkinson, the commander of the Army in 
the Western Territory, and with Gen. Andrew Jackson, then 
in civilian life at Nashville, Tennessee. In November, 1805, 
he had returned to Washington and remained there several 
months, sounding every ofificer of the Army and Navy suspected 
of disaffection to the administration. So cautious, however, 
had he been, that while none embraced his schemes, none 
thought it necessary to warn the government. 

In August, 1806, Burr again went west, and purchased a 
large tract of land in Kentucky. News came that the new estate 
was the scene of extensive preparations for a military expedition. 
Jefferson was not entirely ignorant of Burr's movements, for one 
Daveiss, the United States Attorney for the District of Ken- 
tucky, had written to him several times in regard to them. 
But Daveiss' information had not alarmed him. He was for 
the first time put seriously on his guard by an interview which. 



Io6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Gen. Eaton, of Tripoli fame, sought with him in September, 
1806. Eaton was said to feel aggrieved at the failure of the 
government to recognize the value of his services in Africa. 
He had been approached by Burr in Washington and had not 
been averse to listening to him. He now warned the President, 
but so guardedly as to ofifer no sure ground for executive action. 

Toward the last of October, more specific information came 
from the West. Burr's agents made no concealment of estab- 
lishing a military encampment near Marietta, Ohio. There 
they were joined by armed parties from up the river. Various 
explanations were given of their destination. Some openly de- 
clared that the purpose of the expedition embraced the separa- 
tion of the West from the Union. 

In view of this definite information, and of the steadily increas- 
ing rumors, the President now dispatched to the scene a special 
agent, empowered to call into service the military as well as the 
civil authority of the Territory should the necessity arise. Or- 
ders were also sent to the Governors of the Orleans and Missis- 
sippi Territories, and to the commanders of the land and naval 
forces operating in them, enjoining them to be on the alert to 
check all infringements of the neutrality laws. Special instruc- 
tions were sent to Gen. Wilkinson in order to show him that 
he was under surveillance, and if possible to hold him loyal. 
But Wilkinson had already grown alarmed and had determined 
to reinstate himself with the government. With 500 soldiers 
he was encamped at Nachitoches prepared to oppose a threat- 
ened Spanish irruption. Burr had been in steady communica- 
tion with him and had fully unfolded his plans to him. Wil- 
kinson now forwarded all these communications to the Presi- 
dent, who on the strength of them issued a proclamation that 
certain preparations had been set on foot against the dominions 
of Spain in North America, and calling upon all good citizens 
and all the officers of the United States, within their respective 
functions, to aid in bringing the conspirators to judgment. 
There was no mention of Burr's name, nor of any designs 
against the integrity of the Union. Orders for immediate and 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 107 

summary action were also sent along with the proclamation. 
All Burr's men and stores were to be seized. 

It was not long before matters took on a serious aspect. 
Either from the connivance or the blundering of the judicial 
officers of the West, Burr's movement seemed to be gaining 
ground. Daveiss was a vigorous officer, and early in November 
he had made a motion for Burr's arrest. The Judge had refused 
it, but when a grand jury was impanelled, Daveiss found that 
his action had been premature and moved for the discharge of 
the jury. A second time Daveiss renewed his motion in the 
District court, and again Burr was released. But the grand 
jury did more. They signed a declaration to the effect that 
Burr had meditated nothing dangerous to the peace and well- 
being of the United States. So strong was the sympathy of 
the immediate section with Burr, that the action of the District 
Attorney was regarded as a piece of persecution originating with 
JefTerson. 

The local authorities of Ohio and Kentucky were, if not dis- 
loyal to the government, at least negligent; for, notwithstand- 
ing the President's proclamation, and the passage of the neces- 
sary measures by the legislatures of those two States, Burr's 
forces were allowed to escape in boats down the Ohio. He 
himself joined them at the mouth of the Cumberland, and by 
January, 1807, the combined forces were as far down the Mis- 
sissippi as Natchez. In spite of the advantage Burr had gained 
from the decision of the court in Kentucky, his great expedi- 
tion had dwindled to the pitiful size of one hundred men, car- 
ried in thirteen boats. 

Wilkinson had in the meantime been acting with a decision 
and vigor to which he had hitherto been a stranger. He had 
made the most extensive preparations at New Orleans to resist 
Burr, had had the legislature of the Territory summoned to a 
special session, and had arrested three of the most conspicuous 
of Burr's accomplices, two of whom were sent North. 

Burr learned of these preparations, and, landing his handful of 
men at Natchez, established a camp there. On the arrival of 
the President's proclamation he surrendered and appeared be- 



I08 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

fore the Territorial court, but the court decided that there was 
no evidence that Burr had committed any offense within the 
boundaries over which it had jurisdiction. Burr fled from the 
Territor}^ but Wilkinson sent officers after him, and he was 
arrested in Alabama and carried thence to Richmond, Virginia. 
On March 30th, he came before Justice Marshall, who was presid- 
ing over the District court, for examination and commitment. 
George Hay, the Attorney of the District, made charges of trea- 
son and misdemeanor against him. The Judge dismissed the for- 
mer, but put him under heavy bonds to answer the second 
charge at the next session of the court, beginning May 22nd. Be- 
fore the collapse of the conspiracy had been announced in the 
East, the wildest rumors as to Burr's strength were afloat. Jef- 
ferson, however, affected throughout to regard the conspiracy 
as trivial. In his annual message, in December, he dismissed the 
whole matter in a few words. His private correspondence, also, 
was of the calmest tone. "Burr's enterprise," he wrote to 
Charles Clay, "is the most extraordinary since the days of Don 
Quixote. It is so extravagant that those who know his under- 
standing would not believe it if the proofs admitted doubt. He 
has meant to place himself on the throne of Montezuma, and 
extend his empire to the Alleghany, seizing on New Orleans as 
the instrument of compulsion for our Western States. I think 
his undertaking efifectually crippled by the activity of the Ohio." 
The country, however, was not so well satisfied. John Ran- 
dolph moved for information from the President, and on Janu- 
ary 22nd, 1807, Jefferson sent to Congress a special message nar- 
rating the whole conspiracy from the September preceding 
and naming Burr as its central figure. This was the date when, 
he claimed, he had first heard of Burr's course. It cannot be 
decided whether he was now for the first time sincerely con- 
vinced of Burr's treason to the United States, or merely thought 
this the first favorable opportunity to make the matter public. 
At any rate, he had never before expressed the idea that the 
movement was "an illegal combination of private individuals 
against the peace and safety of the Union." The message, so 
far from allaying the excitement of the country, served only 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 109 

to confirm the vague alarm which prevailed, for the news of the 
utter weakness of Burr's following had not yet reached the East. 
To complete the unfortunate turn things had taken for Jeffer- 
son, the Republican majority in the Senate lost its head and 
passed, without the necessary three readings, a bill for the sus- 
pension of the Habeas Corpus. The bill failed in the House, 
but it gave the opposition abundant ground for attack. Fur- 
thermore, the administration sustained a rebuke when the two 
accomplices of Burr whom Wilkinson had sent North were 
brought before Chief Justice Marshall and promptly discharged 
from custody on the ground of the insufficiency of the evidence 
connecting them with any act of treason. Jefferson saw that his 
cue was to treat the whole conspiracy as a trivial thing. This 
tone was assumed, as far as was possible, in his special message 
relating to the conspiracy, but it dominated his correspondence 
with Wilkinson. The latter was bent upon retrieving himself 
for his dalliance with Burr by a show of extraordinary activity 
in suppressing Burr's schemes. Letters to the President 
poured in from Wilkinson, magnifying the proportion of the 
enterprise and emphasizing its danger to the country. Jeffer- 
son could not afford to oft'end him. Still less could he afford 
to let such representations go unheeded. His correspondence 
for the period is a marvel of tact and skill. 

While Jefferson was thus engaged in checking over-enthusi- 
astic friends, and silencing opponents. Burr came up for exam- 
ination before Chief Justice Marshall, then holding Circuit court 
in Richmond, Virginia. He had employed an array of counsel 
far superior in ability and legal learning to the advocates em- 
ployed by the government. No sympathy was expected by the 
administration from the Judge who was to preside. On April 
1st, Judge Marshall delivered an opinion, in which he declined 
to commit Burr for treason on the evidence of Eaton and Wil- 
kinson, and he went out of his way to call to task the Executive 
for neglect of duty in providing proof of treason. He committed 
Burr for misdemeanor merely, and admitted him to bonds for 
appearance at the next session of court. 

The lethargy of Jefferson during the actual progress of Burr's 



no THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

schemes must always remain inexplicable. But henceforth per- 
sonal reasons urged him to try to bring Burr to conviction. In 
the shape the case had now assumed he saw an attack, by Fed- 
eralist influences, upon the power of the Executive to punish 
treason. Marshall's strictures upon his course bit the deeper 
because at heart he knew them to be largely just. He wrote 
to Bowdoin, United States Minister to Spain: "Hitherto we 
have believed our law to be that suspicion on probable grounds 
was sufficient cause to commit a person for trial, allowing time 
to collect witnesses till the trial, but the judges here have decided 
that conclusive evidence of guilt must be ready in the moment 
of arrest, or they will discharge the malefactor. If this is still 
insisted on, Burr will be discharged, because his crimes having 
been sown from Maine through the whole line of the western 
States to New Orleans, we cannot bring the witnesses here under 
four months. The fact is that the Federalists make Burr's course 
their own, and exert their whole influence to shield him from 
punishment. And it is unfortunate that Federalism is still pre- 
dominant in our judiciary department, which is consequently 
in opposition to the Legislative and Executive branches and is 
able to baffle their measures often." 

In a letter to his political confidant, W. B. Giles, his ani- 
mosity to Marshall mounted still higher: "That there should be 
anxiety and doubt in the public mind, in the present defective 
state of the proof, is not wonderful; and this has been sedulously 
encouraged by the tricks of the Judges to force trials before it 
is possible to collect the evidence. * * * 'pj-ig presiding 
Judge meant only to throw dust in the eyes of his audience. But 
all the principles of law are to be perverted which would bear 
on the favorite offenders who endeavor to overrun this odious 
Republic. * * "*" If there had ever been an instance in this 
or the preceding administration of Federal Judges so applying 
principles of law as to condemn a Federal or acquit a Repub- 
lican offender, I should have judged them in the present case 
with more charity." 

His feeling toward Burr is thus expressed: "Against Burr, 
personally, I never had one hostile sentiment. I never, indeed. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON III 

thought him an honest, frank-deaHng man, but considered him 
as a crooked gun, or other perverted machine whose aim or 
stroke you could never be sure of. Still, while he possessed 
the confidence of the nation, I thought it my duty to respect in 
him their confidence, and to treat him as if he deserved it." 

The hearing on the indictment of Burr began on the date set. 
Richmond was crowded with men attracted thither by a variety 
of motives. Most of them made no concealment of sympathy 
with Burr, and every social and class influence was exerted in 
his favor. The course of the Chief Justice alarmed all Repub- 
licans. Still refusing to commit Burr for treason, he granted 
the motion of Burr's counsel, and issued a subpoena calling for 
the presence of the President as a witness in the case. Jeffer- 
son had hitherto borne the insults and sneers of Luther Mar- 
tin, Burr's leading counsel, with something like patience, but 
this ruling of Marshal] stirred him to anger. He defied the sum- 
mons of the court, basing his refusal to obey it upon the funda- 
mental independence of the three departments of government. 
In the first flush of his resentment he wished to have Luther 
Martin committed as particcps criminis with Burr. Nothing, 
however, was done in this direction. 

A new source of irritation now arose. Gen. Wilkinson came 
on from the .West to take the stand as the chief witness for the 
prosecution. The world knew that Wilkinson had long been 
engaged with Burr, had been the recipient of his confidence, 
and had basely used this intimacy to ingratiate himself with 
the government. He was the object of universal loathing at 
Richmond. Yet Jefferson was forced to stand sponsor for him. 
On the witness stand Wilkinson was worse than useless to Jef- 
ferson. John Randolph, of Roanoke, was foreman of the grand 
jury. Bitterly as he hated Jefferson, as between Jefferson and 
Burr he was for aiding the former; but when Jefferson stooped 
to rely on Wilkinson, Randolph's aid was at an end. With 
Burr's counsel he was for indicting Wilkinson along with Burr, 
but his effort to do this failed. Burr alone was indicted on a 
charge of treason, and his trial was set for August 3rd. Thus far 



112 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the President's successes had more than counterbalanced the 
defeats he had met. 

When the third stage of this remarkable trial began, the gov- 
ernment put numerous witnesses on the stand. Nothing, how- 
ever, proved the overt treason charged in the indictment. The 
case went to the jury, and, after a day's deliberation, Burr was 
pronounced not guilty of the charge of treason. 

The charge of high misdemeanor yet remained. Burr gave 
new bail; a new jury was sworn; and the new indictment was 
read on September 9th. The question of jurisdiction was now 
raised. By the consent of both sides, Burr and one of his col- 
leagues, Blennerhassett, were committed for preparing an ex- 
pedition against a foreign nation with whom the United States 
were at peace, and were bound over to appear before the Cir- 
cuit court of the United States to be held at Chillicothe, Ohio, 
in January, 1808. Neither appeared. Their bonds were for- 
feited and they fied abroad. 

The government welcomed such a solution of the matter. 
Jefferson had no cause for self-congratulations on any part 
of the whole Burr episode. During its latter stages he had 
raised questions as to the relative power of the departments 
of government impossible of solution. The chasm between the 
Executive and Judicial* branches was widened; and this was 
the only permanent result of the conspiracy and trial of Burr. 

While Jefferson was thus absorbed in domestic events, there 
was no improvement in our relations with England. A year had 
passed and the outrage perpetrated off Sandy Hook was not 
once explained or apologized for, Monroe and Pinckney had 
negotiated a treaty, and the State Department at Washington 
had received it in March, 1807. Its provisions were extremely 
unsatisfactory and the tone of England was haughty. To have 
presented it to Congress would have meant war. Jeft'erson, 
therefore, in his sincere desire to preserve peace, did not lay it 
before that body, but allowed it to disperse without a word 



"See Judiciary, Federal, page 273. Also Supreme Court, page 401. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON II3 

on the subject. Jefferson wrote Monroe that the treaty could 
not be ratified; but urged him to delay negotiations to gain 
time — "the most precious of all things to us." 

In the midst of the tension (for rumors of the nature of the 
treaty had spread through the country) the outrage of the 
previous year was repeated, with even more exasperating and 
humiliating particulars, when in June, 1807, the Chesapeake 
was fired into by the Leopard, a British man-of-war, outside the 
Capes at Norfolk. The Chesapeake, though a frigate intended 
for fighting, was totally unprepared for action. Three of her 
crew were killed and eighteen wounded. After having been 
severely crippled she surrendered and was searched. The British 
commander refused to receive her as a prize, and with difficulty 
she made her way back to Hampton Roads. 

As before, Jefferson issued a proclamation calling for the de- 
parture from American waters of all armed vessels belonging to 
Great Britain, and, in the event of their refusal to depart, forbid- 
ding them to be supplied with the necessaries of life. A special 
messenger was sent to England to demand satisfaction. But 
the futility of these two measures was everywhere recognized. 
Republicans as well as Federalists called upon the President 
for action — for action that should show a spirit worthy of respect 
from a foreign nation. Congress was called to meet in special 
session in October, when the President hoped to be able to 
announce from England a more conciliatory policy. But the 
hope was vain. Monroe's career in England had been a suc- 
cession of failures, and he had returned to America in no 
cordial mood towards Jefferson, the author of the innumerable 
humiliations which he had been made to suffer. The con- 
temptuous attitude of England culminated in November, 1807, 
when the King approved new orders in Council for the suppres- 
sion of American interests on the sea. Napoleon's successes 
on land had broken down all semblance of neutrality among 
the powers of Europe. He forced every country to take the 
side either of France or of England. England had only her 
naval power with which to oppose this coercion. According 
to the new orders, American shipping was held to be no longer 



114 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

neutral, for it had not observed impartiality toward belliger- 
ents, and had obeyed Napoleon's paper blockades established 
by the Berlin Decree a year before. 

The new British orders threw the country into an uproar. 
Jefferson had called Congress to meet in special session, but 
he had no solution to propose for the troubles which beset the 
country. He dwelt on the necessity of preparations for coast 
defense, but was feeble and halting in his recommendations for 
a land force. His most ardent admirers could not but feel the 
inadequacy of every measure suggested. 

Nothing was done for two months after the assembling of 
Congress, save to wait for some possible news from England 
of a favorable character. All hopes of an amicable adjustment 
of the trouble were swept away when, in December, England's 
Orders in Council reached the President. It was now thought 
that Jefferson must take a stand. He must give up his lifelong 
dream of peace and accept war. But neither Europe nor his own 
country knew the extraordinary tenacity with which Jefferson 
adhered to an idea. He now adopted the most extraordinary 
course ever devised to avoid war. With the aid of Madison he 
formulated a brief message to Congress recommending to it 
the advantages which might be expected from an inhibition of 
the departure of our vessels from the ports of the United States. 
Despite the vehement remonstrance of Gallatin, the one adviser 
for whose opinion he had profound respect, he sent the message 
with a packet of documents to both Houses. The Senate at 
once went into secret session. Now ensued a process of 
legislation as extraordinary as was the purpose underlying it. 
In a few minutes a bill was drawn up embodying the Presi- 
dent's wishes. The rule of three separate readings on three 
separate days was suspended. No debate was allowed. Within 
four hours a bill had been passed which laid an embargo for 
an indefinite period on all shipping within the ports of the 
United States. But the House was less subservient than 
the Senate. Though it went immediately into secret session, the 
passage of the bill was delayed three days. John Randolph, of 
Roanoke, leading the Quids and Federalists, eagerly welcomed 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON II5 

the opportunity to embarrass and alarm the President. As fast 
as one modification of the Senate Bill was voted down, he pre- 
sented another. No limitation was allowed to the time for 
which the embargo was to prevail, nor was any class of vessels, 
except at the discretion of the President, to be exempted. Five 
days after the Orders in Council reached Jefferson, he signed the 
act for an absolute embargo and thus became master of the 
commerce of his country — a power to which neither George III 
nor Napoleon had ever approached. The reason assigned for 
the measure was that a lack of trade with the United States 
would bring England to her knees. 

The effects of the Embargo Act were almost immediately felt, 
and they were felt first by that section of country always most 
inimical to Republicanism — that is, by New England and the 
parts of New York adjacent to Canada, where the shipping 
trade was the chief source of revenue. To suspend this trade 
even for a day would produce results of inconvenience in thous- 
ands of homes. To suspend it indefinitely meant starvation 
for the laboring classes and ruin for the wealthy and the mod- 
erately w'ell-to-do. Smuggling was inevitable. At first, it was 
engaged in by the bold and lawless. As the pinch of necessity 
became greater, it was taken up by citizens usually law abiding. 
To enforce the law in great seaports and centers of population 
was not difficult, but to enforce it along the Canadian border 
was impossible. Jefferson issued a proclamation directed 
against the people around Lake Champlain as conspirators and 
insurgents. The proclamation was not heeded, and acts of 
violence became frequent along the whole border. More serious 
for the President than these insurrections was the steady opposi- 
tion developed in the thickly settled sections of New England, 
where tow^n after town passed resolutions denouncing the act 
and even threatening a dissolution of the Union. The election 
in many of those States had in the spring gone overwhelmingly 
Anti-Republican. When Congress met in November, 1808, 
the Federalists felt bold enough to move the repeal of the Em- 
bargo Act. The administration had nothing to show as its re- 
sults but suffering at home and failure abroad. The President 



Il6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

feared to stake his prestige on forcing the RepubHcan votes 
of the House into a defense of the Act. As early as June, 1808, 
he had written to Dr. Leib: "They [the extreme FederaHsts] 
are endeavoring to convince England that we suffer more by 
the embargo than they do, and that, if they will hold out a 
while, we must abandon it. It is true, the time will come when 
w^e must abandon it. But if this is before the repeal of the 
Orders of Council, we must abandon it only for a state of war. 
The day is not distant when that will be preferable to a longer 
continuance of the embargo. But we can never remove that, 
and let our vessels go out and be taken under these orders with- 
out making reprisals." He left Congress at liberty to do what 
it would. After three and a half months of debate, modifications 
so extensive were passed as to amount to a virtual repeal of 
the Embargo Act. Most of these modifications were to take 
effect on March 15th, 1809. Jeft'erson signed the bill embracing 
them three days before going out of office. He protested tO' the 
last that the Embargo, if it had been steadfastly adhered to, 
would have accomplished its purpose, and American shipping 
would have been restored to its rights without war. 

Jefferson's embarrassment over the Embargo was accom- 
panied by annoyance at jealousies within his party. He was the 
undisputed leader, a title which meant far more than being 
merely an official head. He had long since made his choice of 
a successor. This was well understood; and in January, 1808, 
his partisans in the Virginia Legislature held a caucus and 
named Madison as their choice for the next President. Fol- 
lowing this example, a Congressional caucus was held, and again 
Madison was named; but many Republican Senators and Repre- 
sentatives held aloof. Madison, in the minds of these latter, 
v/as inseparably associated with Hamilton as an author of the 
Federalist; and this idea was encouraged by Randolph and 
his immediate followers, who, as we have seen, had been push- 
ing Monroe as their opposition candidate. George Clinton, 
though named by Madison's supporters as the candidate for 
Vice-President, had also become sullen at Madison's elevation 
over him. In the midst of these unseemly but inevitable quar- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON II7 

rels within the party, Jefferson strove for harmony, but would 
not give up his favorite. He wrote to Monroe letters even more 
soothing than those he had dispatched while the latter was 
abroad. He went with him through the entire history of his 
late mission, denying any intention to slight or ignore him, and 
pleading for the old intimacy between him and Madison. Mon- 
roe, besides fearing to break openly from Jefferson, even though 
the latter was soon to be a private citizen, cherished a deep 
reverence for him, and this asserted itself after a brief period 
of chagrin. Neither John Randolph nor George Clinton was 
the man to solidify the Federalist opposition tO' the Embargo 
and to win its vote. The Federalists on their side had to give 
up hope of a coalition, and in the summer of 1808, they put 
forth their old candidates, Pinckney and King. Madison was 
favored by good fortune throughout. The legislatures were 
chosen before the Embargo Act reached its highest pitch of un- 
popularity, and Madison received the electoral votes of several 
States that returned Federal Congressmen in the autumn. 
Notwithstanding this fact, the vote for Madison and Clinton fell 
far below that cast for Jefferson and Clinton four years before. 
Jefferson had received 162 electoral votes; Madison now re- 
ceived only 122. The Federalists had received 14 in 1804; in 
1808 they received 47. 

JEFFERSON'S LAST YEARS. 

On March 4th, 1809, Thomas Jefferson transferred the execu- 
tive power to James Madison. He had eight years before 
indulged in many professions of reluctance to undertake the 
duties of President. The sincerity of these professions may be 
a matter of doubt, but no doubt can arise concerning the ex- 
pressions of relief which now escaped him. Had he retired four 
years earlier they would have had no existence; but his second 
administration had brought with it much that was harassing. 
He was disappointed at the miscarriage of his favorite theory, 
the necessity of preserving peace at whatsoever cost. The 
Embargo Act had forced the country into measures which had 



Il8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

threatened its dissolution and had brought great financial dis- 
tress to a certain section, with a corresponding depression in all. 
His party had been compelled virtually to acknowledge its 
failure by abandoning it. True, he had tasted of supreme 
power, but he had also felt, as never before, its accompanying 
penalties. His appointments to office had won him enemies 
as well as friends. Always keenly sensitive to slander and even 
to criticism, he had for two years been sorely wounded. With- 
out these reasons, indeed, he would willingly have retired. 
Rotation in office had always been one of the cardinal points 
in his political creed; and he had never ceased to commend 
Washington's example. He had early in his first term an- 
nounced his intention of following it. Now that personal feel- 
ings were thus thrown into the scale, he looked toward 
retirement with more than willingness. For many months 
before, his letters are full of longing for the day of relief. This 
culminates in a letter written from Washington to M. Dupont 
de Nemours two days before Madison was installed. "Within 
a few days I retire to my family, my books and farms; and 
having gained the harbor myself, I shall look on my friends 
still buffeting the storm, with anxiety indeed, but not with env}/. 
Never did a prisoner, released from his chains, feel such relief 
as I shall on shaking off the shackles of power. Nature in- 
tended me for the tranquil pursuits of science, by rendering 
them my supreme delight. But the enormities of the times in 
which I have lived have forced me to take a part in resisting 
them, and to commit myself on the boisterous ocean of political 
passions. I thank God for the opportunity of retiring from 
them without censure, and carrying with me the most consoling 
proofs of public approbation." 

Jefferson reached Monticello' on March 15th. The usual dis- 
comforts of the journey inseparable from the season were 
increased by a snow storm through which he traveled eight 
hours, most of the time on horseback. He experienced no 
disastrous results, and wrote the President that from this he 
"had more confidence in his vis vitae than he had before enter- 
tained." His neighbors of Albemarle County had wished to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON II9 

give him a public reception, but this he had evaded, hoping 
instead, as he wrote, "to have opportunities of taking them 
individually by the hand at our court house and other public 
places, and of exchanging assurances of mutual esteem." His 
domestic circle was made up of his daughter, Mrs. Randolph, 
and her husband and children, and Jefferson again found in their 
society the felicities of home life of which he had long been 
deprived and in which his affectionate nature found its highest 
delight. 

The course of his life now settled into much the same channels 
as those in which it had flowed twelve years before. From this 
time on, his correspondence acquires a value which it did not 
possess before, important as it has been seen to be in every 
period of his life. Nothing so clearly shows the wide range 
and versatility of his mind; and it is now the sole record of his 
pursuits. At first he was disinclined to devote himself to the 
labor of letter writing. He was, however, drawn irresistibly 
into it. Addresses and congratulations on his public service 
poured in from associations and individuals, and to answering 
these he brought the same interest as he had to those of eight 
years before. Pamphlets on almost every conceivable subject 
were continually reaching him, and to the author of each he 
felt that he owed an appropriate and courteous reply. His 
interest in literary and scientific matters seemed to take on new 
life; but the very leisure which enabled him to cultivate them 
brought its own cessation. His scientific tastes had made him 
known to every learned body in Europe and America, and 
he was a member of most of them. He was especially en- 
thusiastic for the success of the American Philosophic Society, 
of which he was twice elected President during his retirement. 

By far the best expression of the routine of his life at this 
time is given by Jefferson himself in a letter to General Kos- 
ciusko, written in February, 1810. It repeats, in peculiar 
fashion, much of the enthusiastic delight in his new surround- 
ings which was to be seen in the letters written soon after his 
retirement from Washington's Cabinet. "I am retired to Mon- 
ticello, where, in the bosom of my family and surrounded by 



I20 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

my books, I enjoy a repose to which I have been long a stranger. 
My mornings are devoted tO' correspondence. From breakfast 
to dinner, I am in my shops, my garden, or on horseback among 
my farms; from dinner to dark, I give to society and recreation 
with my neighbors and friends; and from candle light to early 
bedtime, I read. My health is perfect; and my strength con- 
siderably re-enforced by the activity of the course I pursue. 
Perhaps it is as great as usually falls to the lot of near sixty-seven 
3^ears of age. I talk of plows and harrows, of seeding and har- 
vesting, with my neighbors, and of politics, too, if they choose, 
with as little reserve as the rest of my fellow citizens, and feel 
at length the blessing of being free tO' say and do what I please, 
without being responsible for it to any mortal. A part of my 
occupation, and by no means the least pleasing, is the direction 
of the studies of such young men as ask it. They place them- 
selves in the neighboring village and have the use of ni)^ library 
and counsel and make a part of my society. In advising the 
course of their reading, I endeavor to keep their attention fixed 
on the main objects of all science, the freedom and happiness 
of man." 

In contrast with this bright picture, the letter concludes with 
the first intimation given by Jefferson that his financial affairs 
were not in such a state as he could wish. "Instead of the 
unalloyed happiness of retiring unembarrassed and independent 
to the enjoyment of my estate, which is ample for my limited 
views, I have to pass such a length of time in a thraldom of 
mind never before known to me. Except for this, my liaDpi- 
ness would have been perfect." 

About this time Jefferson allowed himself to fall into appre- 
hensions as to his health similar to those which he had enter- 
tained on his retirement from Washington's Cabinet. His 
natural brightness of disposition, however, prevented him from 
being plunged into anything like a valetudinarian gloom. He 
rather regarded the loss of health as something which was to 
come in the course of nature and which must be bravely faced. 
This acquiescent frame of mind is shown in a letter written to 
Dr. Rush in August, 1811. 'T write to you from a place ninety 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 121 

miles from Monticello, near the New London of this State, 
which I visit three or four times a year, and stay from a fort- 
night to a month at a time. I have fixed myself comfortably, 
keep some books here, bring others occasionally, am in the 
solitude of a hermit and quite at leisure to attend to my absent 
friends. * * * Having to conduct my grandson through 
his course of mathematics, I have resumed that study with great 
avidity. It was ever my favorite one. 'i* * * j have for- 
gotten much and recover it with more difficulty than when in 
vigor of my mind I originally acquired it. It is wonderful to 
me that old men should not be sensible that their minds keep 
pace with their bodies in the progress of decay. * * * j 
have had a long attack of rheumatism without fever and with- 
out pain, while I keep myself still, 'i^ * * j take moderate 
rides without much fatigue; but my journey to this place in a 
hard-going gig gave me great suiTering, which I expect will 
be renewed on my return as soon as I am able. The loss of 
the power of taking exercise would be a sore affliction to me. 
It has been the delight of my retirement to be in constant bodily 
activity, looking after my affairs. It was never damped, as the 
pleasures of reading are, by the question cui bonof for what 
object? * * * The sedentary character of my public occu- 
pations sapped a constitution naturally sound and vigorous, and 
draws it to an earlier close. But it will still last quite as long as 
I wish it. There is a fullness of time when men should go, and 
not occupy too long the ground to which others have the right 
to advance." 

The beginning of 1812 was rendered memorable in Jefferson's 
life by his reconciliation with John Adams. This was brought 
about by their common friend, Dr. Rush, with whom Jefferson 
had several times discussed Adams' estrangement from him. 
Since Mrs. Adams' letter to Jefferson on the death of his daugh- 
ter, in 1804, no communication had passed between the families. 
The correspondence of the two old men now became volumi- 
nous, and was henceforth uninterrupted. Adams' breadth of 
interest was narrower than Jefferson's, and he enjoyed com- 
parative immunity from a burdensome correspondence. He 



122 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

therefore had more leisure to devote to reading, and was never 
weary of parading this in his letters. The favorite topic of the 
old men was the tenets of the Christian belief as viewed from a 
historical and rationalistic standpoint. The correspondence 
seems to have delighted Jefferson. Even the first of his letters 
to Adams shows a buoyancy to which he had for some months 
been a stranger. 'T think little of them (politics), and say less. 
I have given up newspapers, in exchange for Tacitus and 
Thucydides, for Newton and Euclid, and I find myself much the 
happier. Sometimes indeed I look back to former occurrences 
and remembrances of our old friends and fellow laborers, who 
have fallen before us. Of the signers of the Declaration of 
Independence I see now living not more than half a dozen on 
your side the Potomac, and on this side myself only. You 
and I have been wonderfully spared, myself with remarkable 
health and considerable activity of body and mind. I am on 
horseback three or four hours every day, visit three or four 
times a year a possession I'have ninety miles distant, perform- 
ing the winter journey on horseback. I walk little, however, 
a single mile being too much for me, and I live in the midst of 
my grandchildren, one of whom has lately promoted me to be 
a great-grandfather." 

War with England was declared in June of this year. Jefifer- 
son in his correspondence showed himself thoroughly in accord 
with the administration. As disturbing an element as was war 
in his theories, he felt that the present one was justifiable — a 
feeling which was strengthened by the recollection of British 
wantonness toward American shipping during his own second 
administration. He outlined what seemed to him the most 
advantageous plan of campaign for the American forces. He 
wrote to Colonel Duane: "I see as you do the difficulties and 
defects we have to encounter in war, and should expect disasters 
if we had an enemy on land capable of inflicting them. * * * 
The acquisition of Canada this year, as far as the neighborhood 
of Quebec, will be a mere matter of marching, and will give us 
experience for the attack of Halifax the next, and the final 
expulsion of England from the American continent. Halifax 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 123 

once taken, every cock-boat of hers must return to England 
for repairs. Their fleet will annihilate our public force on the 
water, but our privateers will eat out the vitals of their com- 
merce. Perhaps they will burn New York or Boston. If they 
do," he continued, evidently believing that war was a horror 
which must be ended even by the most extreme measures, "we 
must burn the city of London, not by expensive fleets or Con- 
greve rockets, but by employing an hundred or two Jack-the- 
painters, whom nakedness, famine, desperation and hardened 
vice will abundantly furnish among themselves," 

With the continuation of the war, the blockade cut ofT the 
importation of goods into the countr}% and caused a rapid rise 
in prices of all manufactured articles. In addition to this the 
agricultural sections sufifered from the non-exportation of their 
products. In the more populous sections of the country ex- 
tensive manufactories sprang up; but in Jefferson's section 
recourse was had to household manufacture. Jefferson caught 
the lesson that a new era had been ushered in, and admitted that 
a change had been wrought in some of his economic theories. 
It is interesting to see the effects of the war upon his own 
domestic affairs. "I had no idea," he wrote in January, 18 13, 
"that manufactures had made such progress in the maritime 
States, and particularly of the number of carding and spinning 
machines dispersed through the whole country. We are but 
beginning here to have them in our private families. Small 
spinning jinnies of from half a dozen to twenty spindles will 
soon, however, make their w'ay into the humblest cottages as 
well as into the richest houses, and nothing is more certain than 
that the coarse and middling clothing for our families will for- 
ever hereafter continue to be made within ourselves. I have 
hitherto, myself, depended on foreign manufactures, but I have 
now thirty-five spindles going, a hand carding-machine, and 
looms for flying shuttles for the supply of my own farms, which 
will never be relinquished in my time. The continuance of war 
will fix the habit generally, and out of the evils of impressment 
and of the Orders in Council, a great blessing for us will grow. 
I have not formerly been an advocate of great manufactories. 



124 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

I doubted whether our labor, employed in agriculture, and aided 
by the spontaneous energies of the earth would not procure us 
more than we could make ourselves of other necessaries. But 
other considerations entering into the question have settled my 
doubts." 

With the beginning of 1814, Jefferson first broached the sub- 
ject which for many years had lain nearest his heart. To Dr. 
Thomas Cooper, then serving as Professor of Science in the 
University of South Carolina, he wrote: "I have long had 
under contemplation and been collecting materials for the plan 
of a university in Virginia which should comprehend all the 
sciences useful to us, and none others. The general idea is 
suggested in the Notes on Virginia (query 14). This would 
probably absorb the functions of William and Mary College and 
transfer them to a healthier and more central position, perhaps 
to the neighborhood of this place. The long and lingering 
decline of William and Mary, the death of its last President, 
its location and climate, force on us the wish for a new institu- 
tion more convenient to our country generally, and better 
adapted to the present state of science. I have been told that 
there will be an effort in the present session of our legislature 
to effect such an establishment. I confess, however, that I have 
not great confidence this will be done." After the lapse of half 
a year he again wrote to Dr. Cooper, asking what branches of 
study might justly be regarded as most essential, and how the 
greatest number of studies could be assigned to each professor, 
consistently with the proper attention to each. Jefferson's in- 
terest had now a definite aim. The legislature had finally 
authorized the President and Directors of the Literary Fund 
to look into the establishment of a new educational institution, 
and Jefferson had been requested to prepare for this Board an 
address which should embody his best thought upon the matter. 

Simultaneously wdth this interest in the progress of his native 
State, the course of events drew his attention to national affairs. 
When the news reached Jefferson that the city of Washington 
had been burned by the British in August, it aroused in him 
an indignation which he had not felt since the British outrages 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON I-5 

of his own last administration. Among the properties destroyed 
had been the Library of Congress, a vakiable and extensive col- 
lection of volumes. Jefferson lost no time in offering his own 
library to Congress at its own price. It was a magnificent 
collection, consisting of between nine and ten thousand vol- 
umes. Jefferson wrote to Samuel H. Smith, who had been a 
member of his Cabinet and was now a representative from 
Maryland, and asked him to lay his proposition before Congress. 
"You know my collection, its condition and extent. I have 
been fifty years making it, and have spared no pains, oppor- 
tunity or expense to make it what it is. * * * It is long 
since I have been sensible it ought not to continue private prop- 
erty, and had provided that at my death Congress should have 
the refusal of it at their own price. But the loss they have now 
incurred makes the present the proper moment for their accom- 
modation, without regard to the small remnant of time and the 
barren use of my enjoying it. * * * Congress may enter 
into immediate use of it, as eighteen or twenty wagons would 
place it in Washington in a single trip of a fortnight. I should 
be willing, indeed, to retain a few of the books to amuse the 
time I have yet to pass, which might be valued with the rest, 
but not included in the sum of valuation until they should be 
restored at my death, which I would carefully provide for, so 
that the whole library as it stands in the catalogue at this 
moment should be theirs without any garbling." The matter 
provoked an unpleasant debate in the House. It stirred up the 
old dislike for Jefferson on the part of some members, and inti- 
mations were not wanting that Jefferson had a personal advan- 
tage to serve. A bill was, however, carried through by an over- 
whelming vote, thanlcing Jefferson for his offer, and paying him 
the sum of $23,950. This was far below the original cost^ 
and the assaults upon Jefferson were unworthy of their authors. 
The year 181 5 was spent by Jefferson in the usual routine of 
his domestic pursuits. During the early part of it he was 
constantly employed upon the cataloguing and shipment of the 
library. He himself sums up the uniform tenor of his life at this 
period. "I retain good hcr.'th, am rather too weak to walk 



126 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

much, but ride with ease, passing two or three hours a day on 
horseback, and every three or four months taking in a carriage 
a journey of ninety miles to a distant possession, where I pass a 
good deal of my time. My eyes need the aid of glasses by 
night, and with small print in the day also. My hearing is not 
quite so sensitive as it used to be, no tooth shaking yet, but 
shivering and shrinking in body from the cold we now experi- 
ence, my thermometer having been as low as twelve degrees 
this morning. My greatest oppression is a correspondence 
afHictingly laborious. * * * Could I reduce this epistolary 
corvie within the limits of my friends and affairs, and give the 
time redeemed from it to reading and reflection, to history, 
ethics, mathematics, my life would be as happy as the infirmities 
of age would admit, and I could look on its consummation with 
the composure of one qui siimmum metuit diem nee optat." 

This self-imposed task of writing an appropriate answer to 
each letter that reached him became more and more intolerable. 
He found scant time for the few correspondents for whom he 
really cared. Even Adams' letters went for months unanswered. 
Finally at the end of 1816 a heart-felt cry for relief was wrung 
from him. He wrote to Adams: "Delaplaine lately requested 
me to give him a line on the subject of his book; meaning, as 
I well knew, to publish it. This I constantly refuse; but in this 
instance yielded that, in saying a word for him I might say two 
for myself. I expressed in it freely my sufferings from this 
source, hoping it would have the effect of an indirect appeal to 
the indiscretion of those, strangers and others, who, in the most 
friendly disposition, oppress me with their concerns, their pur- 
suits, their projects, inventions and speculations, political, 
moral, religious, mechanical, mathematical, historical, etc., etc., 
etc. I hope this appeal will bring me relief." His friends seem 
to have taken the hint, for his correspondence from this date 
shows a decided falling off, though, indeed, implicit reliance is 
not to be placed in the proportion of the published letters. 

It was in 18 17 that the goal toward which Jefferson had been 
striving so long came in view. At the preceding session of the 
legislature, his ideas on higher education had been embodied 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 127 

in the establishment of what was called the "Central College," 
and money had been appropriated for the erection of buildings 
in Albemarle County. Work had already begun upon them 
when with the sanction of the legislature the scope and title 
of the institution were changed. The name of "The University 
of Virginia" was adopted, and all that had been done upon the 
Central College was embodied in the new scheme. The first 
Board of Visitors had Jeflferson at their head, under the title of 
Rector, and their first meeting was held in May, 1817. Hence- 
forward the history of the founding of the University of Vir- 
ginia is virtually the history of Jefferson's private life and labors. 

Tlie progress of the work upon the university was beginning 
to realize Jefferson's hopes; but obstacles now arose in com- 
parison with which all former ones seemed trifling. The col- 
leges already existing in Virginia strenuously opposed granting 
special favors to so dangerous a rival as Jefferson's institution 
would surely be. The university had also to suffer the attacks 
of the clergy and the orthodox element of the State. These 
assailed especially the appointment of Dr. Cooper to the chair 
of chemistry. He was known to be a man of very liberal views 
touching religious and denominational questions, and the 
charge was freely made that he was a Unitarian, if, indeed, a 
believer at all in the Christian faith. Jefferson's fellow members 
on the Board of Visitors saw that to retain Dr. Cooper would 
imperil the future of the university, and the matter was laid 
unreservedly before Dr. Cooper himself. With a promptness 
and good humor which does him honor, he resigned and thus 
one difficulty was removed. Jefferson himself was much cha- 
grined, for he had set his heart upon having in the State, and 
especially as a neighbor, a man of Dr. Cooper's talents and 
scholarship. 

The prospect, however, was not yet clear on the financial 
side. The amount which was necessary for the adequate start- 
ing and support of the university was still unappropriated, and 
Jefferson had many dark moments of uncertainty about it. He 
spared no arguments to impress upon the leaders of his State 
how urgent was the need of improvement in all that pertained 



'128 TI-IE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to education. To Joseph C. Cabell, one of his co-workers, he 
wrote at the close of 1820 a letter which shows, as does hardly 
any other, his clearness of vision. He had none of that wilful 
blindness to local conditions of which public men are so often 
guilty. 

"Surely," he wrote, "the pride as well as the patriotism of our 
legislature will be stimulated to look to the reputation and 
safety of their own country, to rescue it from the degradation 
of becoming the Barbary of the Union and of falling into the 
ranks of our own negroes. To that condition it is fast sinking. 
We shall be in the hands of the other States, what our indig- 
enous predecessors were when invaded by the science and 
arts of Europe. The mass of education In Virginia, before the 
revolution, placed her with the foremost of her sister colonies. 
What is her education now? Where is it? The little we have 
we import like beggars from other States; or import their 
beggars to bestow on us their miserable crumbs. And what is 
wanting to restore us to our station among our competitors? 
Not more money from the people. Enough has been raised by 
them, and appropriated to this very object. It is that it should 
be employed understandingly, and for their greatest good." 

In the attitude of the next legislature toward the university 
lay a bitter disappointment for Jefferson. In members from 
whom he had expected co-operation he met indifference, doubt, 
even hostility. Early in 1821 he again wrote Cabell, this time 
in great dejection, but with no weakening as to the extreme 
importance of his position. "I am filled with gloom as to the 
disposition of our legislature toward the university. I perceive 
that I am not to live to see it open. * * * My individual 
opinion is, that we had better not open the institution until the 
buildings, library and all are finished, and our funds cleared of 
incumbrance. * * * j{ ^^^ were to begin sooner, with half 
funds only, it would satisfy the common mind, prevent their aid 
beyond that point, and our institution remaining at that forever 
would be no more than the paltry academies we now have. 
Even with the whole funds we shall be reduced to six profes- 
sors, while Harvard will still prime it over us with her twenty 



OF THO.AIAS JEFFERSON I29 

professors. How many of our youths she now has, learning the 
lessons of anti-Missourian-ism, I know not; but a gentleman 
lately from Princeton told me he saw there the list of the 
students at that place, and that more than half were Virginians. 
These will return home, no doubt, deeply impressed with the 
sacred principles of our Holy Alliance of restrictionists. But 
the gloomiest of all prospects is in the desertion of the best 
friends of the institution — for desertion I must call it." 

Late in the year 1823 the Board of Visitors decided to w'ait 
no longer for favorable action by the legislature, but began to 
look around for proper men to fill the chairs of the new institu- 
tion. The Board was unanimous in its conviction that the best 
men were to be found abroad, and a special agent w-as sent to 
Oxford, Cambridge and Edinburgh, a policy which provoked 
much adverse criticism in certain quarters. During the next 
few months most of the Faculty were selected and the opening- 
date was set for March, 1825. Some of the Faculty were delayed 
in crossing the Atlantic, a circumstance which caused Jefferson 
much uneasiness both for their safety and for the delay occa- 
sioned to the beginning of work. By June there were in attend- 
ance upon lectures nearly a hundred students. The pride and 
satisfaction with which Jefferson thus saw the fruition of his 
hopes can hardly be expressed. His interest in everything 
touching the institution was absorbing. He cultivated the per- 
sonal acquaintance and friendship of each member of the 
Faculty, and his counsel was ready on any question which arose. 
With his high ideals of conduct, he could not bring himself to 
palliate mischief or disorderly conduct among those whom he 
considered assembled for the most sacred pursuit of life. He 
advocated the employment of summary measures against the 
first boyish offenders upon whose cases his advice had been 
requested — probably the sole instance of severity recorded of 
him. 

Toward the close of this year, Jefferson's pecuniary troubles 
assumed a form which could be no longer ignored or concealed. 
They were due to no sudden reverse of fortune, but their causes 
are to be traced backward through many years. It is significant 



130 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of the man's character that a correspondence so voluminous 
as was his and so confidential, should, with the single exception 
of the letter already noticed, have made no allusions to a sub- 
ject so important and so calculated to absorb one's thoughts. 
Though Jefferson had started life with a good inheritance, and 
had by skilful management throughout his young manhood 
materially increased it, a certain fatality seemed afterwards to 
follow his property. On the dower which his wife brought him, 
there rested a British debt of one-third its value. This debt 
he paid twice, having turned it over to the State in accordance 
with a statute, and yet refusing to allow it to be paid in de- 
preciated State scrip. This required the sale of a portion of his 
estate, which went at a heavy sacrifice. After the Revolutionary 
war, he was in public service continuously from 1784 to 1809, 
with the exception of three years. From none of the offices he 
held, save that of Vice-President, was he able to meet his ex- 
penses, but he was forced to draw largely upon his own private 
fortune. Nor was he guilty of extravagance during this period. 
A retrenchment of expenses may, it is true, have been possible 
on certain points; but he regarded the demands of hospitality 
and a fitting style of life as expected of him. Serious as were 
these drains upon his property, it was at the time of his retire- 
ment from the Presidency, sufficient to have kept him in more 
than comfort for the rest of his life. He appreciated, however, 
that to this end there was need of careful management, especially 
as he found his estates in much the same condition as on his 
retirement from Washington's Cabinet. But a style of living 
was now forced upon him which, as the years went by, more 
and more effectually did away with his hope that he might again 
set his affairs upon a firm footing. He was subjected to the 
demands of the most extensive and miscellaneous hospitality 
that our nation has ever seen. No estate of his day could have 
stood such a drain upon it. To this were added the disastrous 
financial results of the war of 1812; and in 1819 Jefferson was 
called upon to pay an endorsement of twenty thousand dollars 
for an intimate friend. This left him a ruined man. He had no 
complaints to utter, either against fortune, or against any indi- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 131 

vidual who had contributed to his losses, or against himself. 
His former enemies lost much of their old feelings toward him 
in admiration of his unmurmuring acceptance of a fate which, 
without fault of his own, thus came to overshadow the close 
of his career. A sale of his property at that time would have 
been the merest sacrifice; and he refused unconditionally to 
accept a loan or gift from the State treasury, as was suggested 
by his friends. Early in 1826, he petitioned the legislature to 
allow him to dispose of hi's personal effects by lottery, a means, 
as he wrote Madison, "often resorted to before the Revolution 
to effect large sales, and still in constant usage in every State 
for individual as well as corporation purposes. If it is permitted 
in my case, my land here alone, with the mills, etc., will pay 
everything, and leave me IMonticello and a farm free. If re- 
'fused, I must sell everything here, perhaps considerable in Bed- 
ford, move thither wdth my family, wdiere I have not even a log 
hut to put my head into, and whether ground for burial, will 
depend upon the depredations, which, under the form of sales, 
shall have been committed upon my property." He also drew 
up for submission to the legislature a paper called "Thoughts 
on Lotteries," his last document of a public nature. In it he 
took the ground that there was nothing immoral in a lottery 
scheme of itself, for every pursuit might in a certain sense be 
said to be a lotter}-; and he cited numerous instances of its 
employment in Virginia for various public enterprises, for 
private societies and individuals, and even for religious congre- 
gations. The threatened opposition died out, and the bill to 
authorize his request was passed without trouble. But it was 
not carried into effect during Jefferson's lifetime. Other States 
through their large cities came forsvard and fulfilled the duty 
which Virginia neglected. Sums were raised by popular sub- 
scription, and promptly forwarded to him. He had no hesita- 
tion in receiving these, and he did so with a feeling of mingled 
gratitude and pride that his public services were thus remem- 
bered. As it was, when the lottery was held it failed to realize 
the half of the sum hoped for; and his lands put up for sale 
fell far short of their original cost. It was a blessing that Jeffer- 



132 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

son had not lived to see this, or the loss of his home and estate 
to his daughter's family. 

Through the spring of 1826, Jefferson's health failed rapidly. 
He still took his daily ride on horseback, refusing to be accom- 
panied by a servant; but before the summer he had grown too 
weak to move from his chair and couch. His mind, however, re- 
tained its power and clearness throughout. He read much in 
the Bible and in the Greek tragedians and wrote several letters 
of some length, the last being dated June 24th. It was an ac- 
knowledgment of an invitation to be present in Washington 
City at the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Declara- 
tion of American Independence. 

From the middle of June, the strength still left in his once 
powerful frame rapidly declined, and he quietly breathed his 
last shortly after mid-day of July 4th, a few hours after his old 
colleague, opponent, and devoted friend, John Adams, had 
passed away. Jefferson was laid to rest by the side of the wife 
whom he had so fondly loved, and within sight of the stately 
buildings to which the thought and activity of his last years 
had been devoted. On his simple tombstone is the inscription: 

Here was buried 

THOMAS JEFFERSON 

author of the 

Declaration 

of 

American Independence 

of the 

Statute of Virginia 

for 

Religious Freedom 

And Father of the 

University of Virginia. 



Born April 2, 1743. O. S. 
Died July 4, 1826. 



THE WRITINGS OF THOMAS JEFFERSON, 

CONSISTING OF HIS PRINCIPAL STATE PAPERS, 

AND EXTRACTS FROM HIS OFFICIAL AND 

PRIVATE CORRESPONDENCE. 

Explanation of References : 

F— Ford's Writings of Jefferson. 

C— Congressional Fditiori of Jefferson' s Works. 

R — Randall's Life of Thomas Jefferson. 

Academy^ A National. — I have often wished we could have a 
philosophical society or academy so organized as that while the 
central academy should be at the seat of government, its mem- 
bers dispersed over the State should constitute filiated academies 
in each State, and publish their communications, from which the 
central academy should select what should be most choice. In 
this way all the members wheresoever dispersed might be 
brought into action, and an useful emulation might arise be- 
tween the filiated societies. Perhaps the great societies now 
existing might incorporate themselves in this way with the 
National one. (To Joel Barlow, 1805, F. VIIL, 425,) 

Adams, John. — His [John Adams'] vanity is a lineament in 
his character which has entirely escaped me. His want of taste 
I had observed. Notwithstanding all this, he has a sound head 
on substantial points, and I think he has integrity. I am glad, 
therefore, he is of the commission for negotiating peace and 
expect he will be useful in it. His dislike of all parties, and 
all men, by balancing his prejudices, may give them some fair 
play to his reason as would a general benevolence of temper. 
At any rate honesty may be extracted from poisonous weeds. 
(To James Madison. 1783. F. HL, 310.) 

AdamSj John. — I am afraid the indiscretion of a printer has 
committed me with my friend Mr. Adams, for whom as one of 
the most honest and disinterested men alive I have a cordial 
esteem, increased by long habits of concurrence in opinion in 

133 



134 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the days of his Republicanism; and ever since his apostasy to 
hereditary monarchy and nobility, though we differ, we differ as 
friends should do. (To Washington, 1791, F. V., 329.) 

Adams, John. — That your administration may be filled with 
glory and happiness to yourself and advantage to us is the 
sincere wish of one, who, though in the course of our own 
voyage through life various little incidents have happened or 
been contrived to separate us, retains still for you the solid es- 
teem of the moments when we were working for our indepen- 
dence, and sentiments of respect and affectionate attachment. 
(To John Adams, 1797. F. VII., 98.) 

Adams^ Samuel. — A letter from you, my respectable friend, 
after three and twenty years of separation, has given me a pleas- 
ure I cannot express. It recalls to my mind the anxious days 
we then passed in struggling for mankind. Your principles have 
been tested in the crucible of time and have come out pure. 
You have proved that it was monarchy, and not merely British 
monarchy, you opposed. A government by representation, 
elected by the people at short periods, w'as our object; and our 
maxim at that day was "where annual election ends, tyranny 
begins;" nor have our departures from it been sanctioned by 
the happiness of their effect. (To Samuel Adams, 1800. F. 

VII., 425.) 

Adams, Samuel. — In meditating the matter of that address 
[the first inaugural] I often asked myself is this exactly in the 
spirit of the patriarch of liberty, Samuel Adams? Is it as he 
would express it? Will he approve of it? I have felt a great 
deal for our country in the times we have seen. But individ- 
ually for no one as for yourself. When I have been told that 
' you were avoided, insulted, frowned on, I could but ejaculate, 
'Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.' I con- 
fess I felt an indignation for you which for myself I have been 
able under every trial to keep entirely passive. However, the 
storm is over, and we are in port. (To Samuel Adams, 1801. 
F. VIII., 38.) 

Adams, Samuel. — I can say he was a truly great man, wise in 
council, fertile in resources, immovable in his purposes, and 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 135 

had, I think, a greater share than any other member in advis- 
ing and directing our measures in the northern war especially. 
As a speaker he could not be compared with his living colleague 
and namesake whose deep conceptions, nervous style, and un- 
daunted firmness made him truly our bulwark in debate. But 
Mr. Samuel Adams, although not of fluent elocution, was so 
rigorously logical, so clear in his views, abundant in good sense, 
and master always of his subject that he commanded the most 
profound attention whenever he arose in an assembly by which 
the froth of declaration was heard with the most sovereign con- 
tempt. (To S. A. Wells, 1819. C VII., 126.) 

Affliction. — Deeply practiced in the school of affliction, the 
human heart knows no joy which I have not lost, no sorrow of 
which I have not drunk! Fortune can present no grief of un- 
known form to me. Who then can so softly bind up the wound 
of another as he who has felt the same wound himself. (To 
Mrs. Maria Cosway. Written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 316.) 

Agriculture. — To remove as much as possible the occasions 
of making war, it might be better for us to abandon the ocean 
altogether, that being the element whereon we shall be prin- 
cipally exposed to jostle with other nations; to leave to others 
to bring what we shall want, and to carry what we can spare. 
This would make us invulnerable to Europe, by offering none 
of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens to 
the cultivation of the earth; and I repeat it again, cultivators of 
the earth are the most virtuous and independent citizens. (From 
"Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 279.) 

Agriculture. — We have an immensity of land courting the 
industry of the husbandman. Is it best then that all our citizens 
should be employed in its improvement, or that one-half should 
be called off from that to exercise manufactures and handicraft 
arts for the other? Those who labor in the earth are the chosen 
people of God, if he ever had a chosen people, whose breasts 
he has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine 
virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire, 
which otherwise might escape from the earth. Corruption of 
morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no 



136 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

age or nation has furnished an example. It is the mark set on 
those, who not looking up to Heaven, to their own soil and in- 
dustry, as does the husbandman, for their subsistence, depend 
for it on casualties and caprice of customers. Dependence be- 
gets subservience and venality suffocates the germs of virtue, 
and prepares fit tools for the designs of ambition. This, the 
natural progress and consequence of the arts, has sometimes 
perhaps been retarded by accidental circumstances; but gen- 
erally speaking, the proportion which the aggregate of the other 
classes of citizens bears in any State to that of its husbandman, 
is the proportion of its unsound to its healthy parts, and is 
a good enough barometer whereby to measure its degree of 
corruption. (From Notes on Virginia, 1782. F. III., 269.) 

Agriculture. — I think our government will remain virtu- 
ous for many centuries, as long as they are chiefly agricultural; 
and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part 
of America. When they get piled upon one another in large 
cities, as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe. 
(To James Madison, 1785. F. IV., 479.) 

Agriculture. — Were I to indulge my ovv'n theory, I should 
wish our States to practice neither commerce nor navigation, 
but to stand with respect to Europe precisely on the footing 
of China. We would thus avoid wars, and all our citizens would 
be husbandmen. But this is theory only, and a theory which 
the servants of America are not at liberty to follow. Our people 
have a decided taste for navigation and commerce. They take 
this from their mother country; and their servants are in duty 
bound to calculate all their measures on this datum; we wish 
to do it by throwing open all the doors of commerce and knock- 
ing off its shackles. But as this cannot be done for others, 
unless they will do it for us, I suppose we shall be obliged to 
adopt a system which may shackle them in our parts as they 
do us in theirs. (From a letter written from Paris to Hogen- 
dorp, 1785. F. IV., 105.) 

Agriculture. — Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable 
citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, 
the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON I37 

to its liberty and interest by the most lasting bonds. As 
long, therefore, as they can find employment in this line, I 
would not convert them into mariners, artisans or anything else. 
But our citizens will find employment in this line till their 
numbers and, of course, their productions, become too great 
for the demand both internal and foreign. This is not the 
case as yet, and probably will not be for a considerable time. 
As soon as it is, the surplus of hands must be turned to some- 
thing else. I should then perhaps wish to turn them to the sea 
in preference to manufactures, because comparing the charac- 
ters of the two classes, I find the former the most valuable citi- 
zens. I consider the class of artificers as the founders of vice, 
and the instruments by which the liberties of a country are gen- 
erally overturned. (To John Jay, 1785. F. IV., 88.) 

Agriculture. — A prosperity built on the basis of agriculture 
is that which is most desirable to us, because to the effects of 
labor it adds the effects of a greater portion of the soil. (To 
C. W. F. Dumas, 1792. F. VL, 70.) 

Agriculture. — See Farming. 

Alien and Sedition Laws. — I consider the Alien and Sedition 
laws as merely an experiment of the American mind to see how 
far it will bear an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this 
goes down we shall immediately see attempted another act of 
Congress declaring that the President shall continue in office 
during life, reserving to another occasion the transfer of the 
succession to his heirs, and the establishment of the Senate for 
life. At least this may be the aim of the Oliverians, while Monk 
and the Cavaliers (who are perhaps the strongest) may be play- 
ing their game for the restoration of his gracious majesty George 
the Third. That these things are in contemplation, I have no 
doubt; nor can I be confident of their failure, after the dupery of 
which our countrymen have shewn themselves susceptible. (To 
S. T. Mason, 1798. F. VII., 283.) 

Alien and Sedition Laws. — The Alien bill is reported again 
very much softened, and if the proviso can be added to its saving 
treaties, it will be less objectionable than I thought it possible 
to have obtained. * * * They have brought into the 



138 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Lower House a Sedition bill which among other enormities 
undertakes to make printing certain matters criminal, though 
one of the amendments to the Constitution has so expressly 
taken religion, printing presses, etc., out of their coercion. In- 
deed this bill and the Alien bill both are so palpably in the 
teeth of the Constitution as to show they mean to pay no re- 
spect to it. (To James Madison, 1798. F. VII., 266.) 

Alien and Sedition Laws. — See Kentucky Resolutions. 

Alliances. — I sincerely join you in abjuring all political con- 
nection with every foreign power; and though I cordially wish 
well to the progress of liberty in all nations, and would forever 
give it the weight of our countenance, yet they are not to be 
touched without contamination from their other bad principles. 
Commerce with all nations, alliance with none, should be our 
motto. (To Thomas Lomax, 1799. F. VII., 374.) 

Ambassadors. — After mature consideration and consultation, 
I am of the opinion that the Constitution has made the President 
the sole competent judge to what places circumstances render 
it expedient that Ambassadors or other public ministers should 
be sent and of what grade they should be; and that it has as- 
cribed to the Senate no executive act but the single one of 
giving or withholding their consent to the person nominated. 
(From a draft of the President's Message on diplomatic nom- 
inations, 1792. F. v., 415.) 

Amendments. — None of the fundamental laws and principles 
of government shall be repealed or altered but by the personal 
consent of the people on summons to meet in their respective 
counties on one and the same day by an act of the legislature 
to be passed for every special occasion; and if in such county 
meetings the people of two-thirds of the counties shall give their 
sufifrage for any particular alteration or repeal referred to them 
by the said act, the same shall be accordingly repealed or altered, 
and such repeal or alteration shall take its place among the fun- 
damentals and stand on the same footing with them, in lieu 
of the article repealed or altered. (From a proposed Constitu- 
tion for Virginia, 1776. F. II., 29.) 

Amendments. — The real friends of the Constitution in its 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON T39 

federal form, if they wish it to be immortal, should be attentive, 
by amendments, to make it keep pace with the advance of the 
age in science and experience. (To R. J. Garnet, 1824, C. 

VII., 33(^') 

Anarchy. — The British ministry have so long hired their 
gazetteers to repeat and model into every form lies about our 
being in anarchy, that the world has at length believed them, 
the ministers themselves have come to believe them, and what 
is more wonderful we have believed them ourselves. Yet where 
does the anarchy exist? When did it ever exist except in the 
single instance of Massachusetts? [Referring to Shay's Re- 
bellion.] (To Stephens Smith, written from Paris, 1787. F. 
IV., 466.) 

ANiMALS.t — The truth is, that a Pigmy and a Patagonian, a 
Mouse and a Mammoth, derive their dimensions from the same 
nutritive juices. The difference of increment depends upon 
circumstances unsearchable to beings with our capacities. Every 
race of animals seem to have received from their Maker certain 
laws of extension at the time of their formation. * * * Be- 
low these limits they cannot fall, nor rise above them. What 
intermediate station they shall take may depend on soil, on cli- 
mate, on a careful choice of breeders. But all the manna of 
Heaven would never raise the Mouse to the bulk of the Mam- 
moth. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 135.) 

The Apocalypse. — No man on earth has less taste or talent 
for criticism than myself, and least and last of all should I under- 
take to criticise works on the Apocalypse. It is between fifty 
and sixty years since I read it and then I considered it as merely 
the ravings of a maniac, no more worthy, nor capable of ex- 
planation than the incoherence of our own nightly dreams. I 
was, therefore, well pleased to see, in your first proof sheet, that 
it was said to be not the production of St. John, but of Cerinthus 
a century after the death of that apostle. Yet the change of the 
author's name does not lessen the extravagancies of the com- 
position; come they from whomsoever they may, I cannot so 
far respect them as to consider them as an allegorical narration 
of events, past or subsequent. There is not coherence enough 



140 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

in them to countenance any suite of national ideas. You will 
judge, therefore, from this how impossible I think it that either 
your explanation or that of any man in "the Heavens above or 
on the earth beneath" can be a correct one. What has no 
meaning admits no explanation! (To Gen. Alexander Smith, 

1825. C. VII., 395-) 

Approbation. — In a virtuous and free State no rewards can 
be so pleasing to sensible minds, as those which include the 
approbation of our fellow-citizens. My great pain is, lest my 
poor endeavor should fall short of the kind expectations of my 
country. So far as impartiality, assiduous attention, and sincere 
affection to the great American cause, shall enable me to fulfill 
the duties of my appointment, so far I may with confidence 
undertake. (From a speech to the General Assembly, made 
upon assuming the duties of governor of Virginia, 1779. F. II., 
187.) 

Aristocracy. — If anybody thinks that kings, nobles, or priests 
are good conservators of the public happiness send them here. 
It is the best school in the universe to cure them of their folly. 
They will see here with their own eyes that their descriptions 
of men are an abandoned confederacy against the happiness of 
the mass of people. The omnipotence of their effect cannot be 
better proved than in this country particularly, where notwith- 
standing the finest soil upon earth, the finest climate under 
heaven, and a people of the most benevolent, the most gay and 
amiable character of which the human form is susceptible, where 
such a people I say, surrounded by so many blessings from 
nature, are yet loaded with misery by kings, nobles and priests, 
and by them alone. (Written from Paris to George Wythe, 
1786. F. IV., 269.) 

Aristocracy. — I agree with you that there is a natural aris- 
tocracy among men. The grounds of this are virtue and 
talents. Formerly, bodily powers gave place among the aristoi. 
But since the invention of gunpowder has armed the weak as 
well as the strong with missile death, bodily strength, like 
beauty, good humor, politeness and other accomplishments, 
has become but an auxiliary ground of distinction. There is also 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON I4I 

an artificial aristocracy founded on wealth and birth, without 
either virtue or talents; for with these it would belong- to the 
first class. The natural aristocracy I consider as the most 
precious gift of nature, for the instruction, the trusts, and gov- 
ernment of society. And, indeed, it would have been incon- 
sistent in creation to have formed man for the social state, and 
not to have provided virtue and wisdom enough to manage 
the concerns of the society. May we not even say that that 
form of government is best, which provides the most effectually 
for a pure selection of these natural aristoi into the offices of 
government? The artificial aristocracy is a mischievous in- 
gredient in government, and provision should be made to 
prevent its ascendency. On the question what is the best 
provision, you and I differ; but we differ as rational friends, 
using the free exercise of our own reason and mutually indulg- 
ing its errors. You think it best to put the pseudo-crm/oi into 
a separate chamber of legislature, where they may be hindered 
from doing mischief by their co-ordinate branches, and where, 
also, they may be a protection to wealth against the Agrarian 
and plundering enterprises of the majority of the people. I 
think that to give them power in order to prevent them from 
doing mischief, is arming them for it, and increasing instead 
of remedying the evil. For if the co-ordinate branches can 
arrest their action, so may they that of the co-ordinates. Mis- 
chief may be done negatively as well as positively. Of this a 
cabal in the Senate of the United States has furnished many 
proofs. Nor do I believe them necessary to protect the wealthy; 
because enough of these will find their way into every branch of 
the legislature to protect themselves. From fifteen to twenty 
legislatures of our own, in action for thirty years past, have 
proved that no fears of an equalization of property are to be 
apprehended from them. I think the best remedy is that pro- 
vided by all our constitutions, to leave to the citizens the free 
election and separation of the aristoi from the pseudo-ar/.S'^o^*, 
of the wheat from the chaff. In general they will elect the 
really good and wise. In some instances wealth may corrupt, 



142 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

and birth blind them; but not in sufficient degree to endanger 
society. (To John Adams, 1813. C. VI., 224.) 

Arms. — One farther favor and I am done; to search the 
Herald's office for the arms of my family. I have what I have 
been told were the family arms, but on what authority I know 
not. It is possible there may be none. If so, I would with 
your assistance become a purchaser, having Sterne's word for 
it that a coat of arms may be purchased as cheap as any other 
coat. (From a letter written to Thomas Adams, a merchant of 
London, 1770. F. L, 389.) 

Army. — No freeman shall be debarred the use of arms w^ithin 
his own lands. There shall be no standing army but in time of 
actual w^ar. (From a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. 
F. II., 27.) 

Assumption. — It was a real fact that the Eastern and South- 
ern members (South Carolina, however, was with the former) 
had got into the most extreme ill humor with one another. 
Tliis broke out on every question with the most alarming heat, 
the bitterest animosities seemed to be engendered, and though 
they met every day, little or nothing could be done from mutual 
distrust and antipathy. On considering the situation of things 
I thought the first step toward some conciliation of views 
would be to bring Mr. Madison and Colonel Hamilton to a 
friendly discussion of the subject. I immediately wrote to 
each to come and dine with me the next day, mentioning that 
we should be alone, that the object was to find some tem- 
perament for the present fever, and that I was persuaded that 
men of so'und heads and honest views needed nothing more 
than explanation and mutual understanding to enable them to 
unite in some measures which might enable us to get along. 
They came, I opened the subject to them, acknowledged that 
my situation had not permitted me to understand it sufficiently 
but encouraged them to consider the thing together. They 
did so; it ended in Mr. Madison's acquiescence in a proposition 
that the question should again be brought before the House 
by way of amendment from the Senate, that though he w^ould 
not vote for it, nor entirely withdraw his opposition, yet he 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON I43 

would not be strenuous, but leave it to its fate. It was ob- 
sen-ed, I forgot by which of them, that as the pill would be a 
bitter one to the Southern States, something should be done 
to soothe them, that the removal of the seat of government to 
the Potomac was a just measure and would probably be a pop- 
ular one with them, and would be a proper one to follow the 
assumption. It was agreed to speak to Mr. White and Mr. Lee 
whose districts lay on the Potomac and to refer to them to 
consider how far the interests of their particular districts might 
be a sufificient inducement in them to yield to the assumption. 
This was done. Lee came to it without hesitation; Mr. White 
had qualms, but finally agreed. The measure came down by 
way of amendment from the Senate and was finally carried by 
the change of White's and Lee's votes. But the removal to 
the Potomac could not be carried unless Pennsylvania could 
be engaged in it. This Hamilton took on himself, and, chiefly, 
as I understood, through the agency of Robert Morris, obtained 
a vote of that State, on agreeing to an intermediate residence 
in Philadelphia. This is the history of the assumption, about 
which many erroneous conjectures have been published. It 
was unjust in itself, oppressive to the States, and was acquiesced 
in merely from a fear of discession. While our government 
was still in its most infant state, it enabled Hamilton so to 
strengthen himself by corrupt services to many that he could 
afterward caiTy his bank scheme, and every measure he pro- 
posed in defiance of all opposition; in fact, it was a principal 
ground whereon was reared up that speculating phalanx in and 
out of Congress which has since been able to give laws to 
change the political complexion of the government of the 
United States. (From an undated manuscriot, probably writ- 
ten in 1793. F. VI., 173.) 

Atheism. — As to the calumny of Atheism, I am so broken to 
calumnies of every kind, from every department of government, 
Executive, Legislative, and Judiciary, and from every mission 
of theirs holding office or seeking it, that I entirely disregard 
it. * * * j^ |-j^g been so impossible to contradict all their 
lies, that I am determined to contradict none; for while I should 



144 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

be engaged with one, they would publish twenty new ones. (To 
James Monroe, 1800. F. VII., 448.) 

Banks. — But it will be asked are we to have no banks ? Are 
merchants and others to be deprived of the resource of short 
accommodations found so convenient? I answer, let us have 
banks; but let them be such as are alone to be found in any 
country on earth except Great Britain. There is not a bank of 
discount on the continent of Europe (at least there was not one 
when I was there) which offers anything but cash in exchange 
for discounted bills. No one has a natural right to the trade of 
a money lender but he who has the money to lend. Let those 
then among us, who have a moneyed capital, and who prefer 
employing it in bonds rather than otherwise, set up banks, and 
give cash or national bills for the notes they discount. Perhaps, 
to encourage them, a larger interest than is legal in the other 
cases might be allowed them on the condition of their lending 
for short periods only. It is from Great Britain we copy the 
idea of giving paper in exchange for discounted bills; and, 
while we have derived from that country some good principles 
of government and legislation, we unfortunately run into the 
most servile imitation of all her practices, ruinous as they prove 
to her, and with the gulf ya.wning before us into which these 
very practices are precipitating her. The unlimited emission of 
bank paper has banished all her specie, and is now, by a deprecia- 
tion acknowledged by her own statesmen, carrying her rapidly 
to bankruptcy as it did France, as it did us, and will do us 
again, and every country permitting paper to be circulated 
other than that by public authority rigorously limited to the 
just measure of circulation. (To J. W. Eppes, 1813. C. VI., 
141.) 

Banks. — They have passed a bill for establishing a bank to 
which it is objected that they have transcended their powers. 
There are certainly persons in all the departments who are for 
driving too fast. Government, being founded on opinion, the 
opinion of the public, even when it is wrong, ought to be 
respected to a certain degree. The prudence of the President 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 145 

is an anchor of safety to us. (To Nicholas Lewis, 1791. F. V., 
2^2.) 

Bank, National. — The incorporation of a bank, and the pow- 
er assumed by this bill, have not, in my opinion, been delegated to 
the United States by the Constitution. Tliey are not among 
the powers specially enumerated; for these are: ist. A power 
to lay taxes for the purpose of paying the debts of the United 
States; but no debt is payed by this bill, nor any tax laid. 2d. 
**To borrow money." But this bill neither borrows money nor 
ensures the borrowing it. * * * 3d. "To regulate com- 
merce with foreign nations, and among the States, and with the 
Indian tribes." To erect a bank and regulate commerce are 
very different acts. He who erects a bank creates a subject of 
commerce in its bills; so does he who makes a bushel of wheat, 
or digs a dollar out of the mines ; yet neither of these persons 
regulates commerce thereby. To make a thing which may be 
bought and sold, is not to prescribe the regulations for buying 
and selling. * * * <^^\[\ j^gg ^j-g these powers covered by 
any other of the special regulations. Nor are they within 
either of the general phrases, which are the two following: i. 
To lay taxes to provide for the general welfare of the United 
States, that is to say, "to lay taxes for the purpose of providing 
for the general welfare." For the laying of taxes is the power, 
and the general welfare the purpose for which the power is to be 
exercised. They are not to lay taxes ad libitum for any pur- 
pose they please; but only to pay the debts or provide for the 
welfare of the Union. In like manner, they are not to do any- 
thing they please to provide for the general welfare, but only 
to lay taxes for that purpose. To consider the latter phrase, not 
as describing the purpose of the first, but as giving a distinct 
and independent power to do any act they please which might 
be for the good of the Union would render all the preceding 
and subsequent enumerations of power completely useless. It 
would reduce the whole instrument to a single phrase, that of 
instituting a Congress with power to do whatever would be for 
the good of the United States; and, as they would be the sole 
judge of the good or evil, it would be also a power to do what- 



146 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ever evil they please. 2. The second general phrase is, "to 
make all laws necessary and proper for carrying into execution 
the enumerated powers." But they can all be carried into 
execution without a bank. A bank, therefore, is not necessary 
and consequently not authorized by this phrase. * * * Jt 
may be said that a bank whose bills would have a currency all 
over the States, would be more convenient than one whose 
currency is limited to a single State. So' it would be still more 
convenient that there should be a bank whose bills should have 
a currency all over the world. But it does not follow from this 
superior conveniency, that there exists anywhere a power to 
establish such a bank; or that the world may not go on very 
■ well without it. * * * The negative of the President is the 
shield provided by the Constitution to protect against the in- 
vasions of the legislature: i. The right of the Executive. 2. 
Of the Judiciary. 3. Of the States, and State legislatures. The 
present is a case of a right remaining exclusively with the 
States, and consequently one of those intended by the Constitu- 
•tion to be placed under its protection. (From an opinion sub- 
mitted to Washington, 1791. F. V., 285-289.) 

Bank^ National. — You will see that we are completely sad- 
dled and bridled and that the bank is so^ firmly mounted on us 
that we must go where they will guide. They openly publish a 
resolution that the national property, being increased in value, 
they must, by an increase of a circulating medium, furnish an 
adequate representation of it and by further additions of active 
capital promote the enterprises of our merchants. (To James 
Monroe, 1793. F. VII., 80.) 

Banks^ National. — This institution is one of the most deadly 
hostilities existing against the principles and form of our Con- 
stitution. Tlie nation is at this time so strong and united in its 
sentiments, that it cannot be shaken at this moment. But 
suppose a series of untoward events should occur, sufficient to 
bring into doubt the competency of a Republican government 
to meet a crisis of great danger, or to unhinge the confidence 
of the people in the public functionaries; an institution like 
this, penetrating by its branches every part of the Union, acting 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 147 

by command and in phalanx, may, in a critical moment, upset 
the government. I deem no government safe which is under 
the vassalage of any self-constituted authorities, or any other 
authority than that of the nation, or its regular functionaries. 
What an obstruction could not this bank of the United States 
with all its branch banks be in time of war? It might dictate 
to us the peace we should accept or withdraw its aid. Ought 
we then to give further growth to an institution so powerful, so 
hostile? That it is hostile w^e know, i, from a knowledge of the 
principles of the persons composing the body of directors in 
every bank, principal or branch; and those of most of the 
stockholders: 2, from their opposition to the measures and 
principles of the government, and to the election of those 
friendly to them: and 3, from the sentiments of the newspapers 
they support. Now, while we are strong, it is the greatest 
duty we oiwe to the safety of our Constitution, to bring this 
powerful enemy to a perfect subordination under its authorities. 
The first measure would be to reduce them to an equal footing 
only with other banks, as to the favors of the government. 
But, in order to be able to meet a general combination of the 
banks against us, in a critical emergency, could we not make a 
beginning tow^ards an independent use of our own money, 
towards holding our own bank in all the deposits where it is 
received, and letting the treasurer give his draft or note, for 
payment at any particular place, which, in a w^ell conducted 
government, ought to have as much credit as any private draft, 
or bank note, or bill, and would give us the same facilities which 
we derive from the banks? (To the Secretary of the Treasury, 
1803. F. VIII., 284.) 

Bimetallism. — I concur with you that the unit must stand on 
both metals, that the alloy should be the same in both, also in 
the proportion you establish between the value of the two 
metals. As to the question on whom the expense of coinage 
is to fall, I have been so little able to make up an opinion satis- 
factory to myself as to be ready to concur in either decision. 
With respect to the dollar, it must be admitted by all the w^orld 
that there is great uncertainty in the meaning of the term, and 



148 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

therefore all the world will have justified Congress for their 
first act of removing the uncertainty by declaring what they 
understood by the term; but the uncertainty once removed 
exists no longer, and I very much doubt a right to change the 
value, and especially to lessen it. It would lead to so easy a 
mode of paying off the debts, besides the points injured by the 
reduction of the value would have so much matter to urge in 
support of the first point of fixation. Should it be thought, 
however, that Congress may reduce the value of the dollar, I 
should be for adopting for our unit, instead of the dollar, either 
one ounce of pure silver, or one ounce of standard silver, so as 
to keep the unit of money a part of the system of measures, 
weights and coins. (To Alexander Hamilton, 1792. C. HI., 
330.) 

Bimetallism. — See Money. 

Bishops. — A modern bishop to be moulded into a primitive 
one must be elected by the people, undiocesed, unrevenued, 
unlorded. (From Notes on Religion, 1776. F, II., 98.) 

Blockade. — Nor does this doctrine contravene the right of 
preventing vessels from' entering a blockaded port. Tliis right 
stands on other ground. When the fleet of a nation actually 
beleaguers the port of its enemy, no other has a right to enter 
their line, any more than their line of battle in the open sea, or 
their line of circumvallation, or of encampment, or of battle 
array on land. The space included within their lines in any of 
those cases is either the property of their enemy, or it is com- 
mon property assumed and possessed for the moment, which 
cannot be intruded on, even by a neutral, without committing 
the very trespass we are now considering, that of intruding 
into the lawful possession of a friend. (To the United States 
Minister to France, 1801. F. VIII., 90.) 

Bonaparte. — Perhaps it is now to be wished that Bonaparte 
may be spared, as, according to his protestations, he is for 
liberty, equality and representative government, and he is more 
able to keep the nation together and ride out the storm than 
any other. Perhaps it may end in their establishing a single 
representative and that in his person. I hope it will not be for 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 149 

life for fear of the influence of the example on our countrymen. 
(To John Breckenridge, 1800. F. VII., 418.) 

Bonaparte. — Whenever Bonaparte has meddled we have seen 
nothing- but fragments of the old Roman Government stuck 
into materials with which they can form no cohesion; we see 
the bigotry of an Italian to the ancient splendor of his country, 
but nothing which bespeaks a luminous view of the organiza- 
tion of rational government. (To Thomas Mann Randolph, 
1800. F. VII., 422.) 

Bonaparte. — If Bonaparte declares for royalty, either in his 
own person or of Louis XVIII. , he has but a few days to live. 
In a nation of so much enthusiasm there must be a million of 
Brutuses who will devote themselves to death to destroy him. 
But without much faith in Bonaparte's heart I have much in his 
head. (To Harry Innes, 1800. F. VII., 412.) 

Bonaparte, — I had before heard of the military ingredients 
which Bonaparte had infused into all the schools of France, 
but have never so well understood them as from your letter. 
The penance he is now doing for all his atrocities must be 
soothing to every virtuous heart. It proves that we have a 
God in heaven. That He is just and not careless of what passes 
in the world. And we cannot but wish to this inhuman wretch 
a long, long life that time as well as intensity may fill up his 
sufiferings to the measure of his enormities. But indeed what 
suffering can atone for his crimes against the liberties and hap- 
piness of the human race, for the miseries he has already in- 
flicted on his own generation and on those yet to come on 
whom he has riveted the chains of despotism. (To George 
Tickner, 1817. F. X., 95.) 

Bounties. — It is still more settled that among the purposes 
to which the Constitution permits them to apply money, the 
granting of premiums or bounties is not enumerated and there 
has never been a single instance of their doing it although there 
has been a multiplicity of applications. The Constitution has 
left this encouragement to the separate States. I have in two 
or three messages recommended to Congress an amendment to 



150 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the Constitution which should extend their power to these 
objects. (To Dr. Mease, 1809. C. V., 412.) 

Bribery.^^ — No person shall be capable of acting in any office, 
civil or military, who shall have given any bribe to obtain such 
office, or who shall not previously take an oath of fidelity to the 
State. (From a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. F. 

n., 29.) 

Britain. — Great Britain is the nation which can do us the 
most harm of any one, or all on earth; and with her on our side 
we need not fear the whole world. With her, then, we should 
most sedulously cherish a cordial friendship; and nothing would 
tend more to knit our affections than to be fighting once more, 
side by side, in the same cause. Not that I would purchase her 
amity at the price of taking part in her wars. But the war in 
which the present proposition might engage us, should that be 
its consequence, is not her war, but ours. Its object is to intro- 
duce and establish the American system, of keeping out of our 
land all foreign powers, of never permitting those of Europe to 
intermeddle with the affairs of our nation. It is to maintain our 
own principle, not to depart from it. And if, to facilitate this, 
we can effect a division in the body of the European powers, 
and draw over to our side its most powerful member, surely we 
should do it. (To James Monroe, 1823. C. VII., 316.) 

Bubbles. — Like a dropsical man calling for water, water, our 
deluded citizens are clamoring for more banks, more banks. 
The American mind is now in that state of fever which the 
world has so often seen in the history of other nations. We 
are under the bank bubble, as England was under the South 
Sea bubble, France under the Mississippi bubble, and as every 
nation is liable to be, under whatever bubble, design, or delusion 
may puff up in moments when off their guard. We are now 
taught to believe that legerdemain tricks upon paper can pro- 
duce as solid wealth as hard labor in the earth. It is vain for 
common sense to urge that nothing can produce but nothing, 
that it is an idle dream to believe in a philosopher's stone which 
is to turn everything into gold, and to redeem man from the 
original sentence of his Maker, "in the sweat of his brow shall 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 151 

he eat his bread." (To Colonel Yancey, 1816. C. VI., 515.^ 

Calumny. — If we suffer ourselves to be frightened from our 
post by mere lying, surely the enemy will use that weapon; for 
what one so cheap to those of whose system of politics morality 
makes no part? The patriot, like the Christian, must learn to 
bear revilings and persecutions as a part of his duty; and in 
proportion as the trial is severe, firmness under it becomes more 
requisite and praiseworthy. It requires, indeed, self-command. 
But that will be fortified in proportion as the calls for its ex- 
ercise are repeated. (To James Sullivan, 1805. F. VIII., 355.) 

Canada.' — I know your feelings on the present state of the 
world, and hope they will be cheered by the successful course 
of our war and the addition of Canada to our Confederacy. The 
infamous intrigues of Great Britain to destroy our government 
(of which Henry's is but one sample) and with the Indians to 
tomahawk our women and children, prove that the cession of 
Canada must be a sine qua non at a treaty of peace. (To Kos- 
ciusko, 1812. F. IX., 363.) 

Canada, — Could we acquire that country (Canada) we might 
perhaps insist successfully at St. Petersburg on retaining all 
westward of the meridian of Lake Huron or Lake Ontario, or of 
Montreal, according to the of the place as an indemni- 
fication for the past and security of the future. To cut them ofif 
from the Indians even west of the Huron would be a great 
security. (Monroe papers, in State Department. Vol. 13, No. 
1696.) 

Canons of Conduct. 

1. Never put off for to-morrow what you can do to-day. 

2. Never trouble another for what you can do yourself. 

3. Never spend your money before you have it. 

4. Never buy what you do not want, because it is cheap; it 
will be dear to you. 

5. Pride costs us more than hunger, thirst and cold. 

6. We never repent of having eaten too little. 

7. Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly. 

8. How much pain have cost us the evils which have never 
happened. 



152 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

9. Take things always by their smooth handle. 

10. When angr}% count ten, before you speak; if very angry, 
an hundred. (To Thomas Jefferson Smith, 1825. C. VII., 
402.) 

Captives. — But is an enemy so execrable, that though in cap- 
tivity, his wishes and comforts are to be disregarded and even 
crossed? I think not. It is for the benefit of mankind to miti- 
gate the horrors of war as much as possible. The practice, there- 
fore, of modern nations, of treating captive enemies with polite- 
ness and generosity, is not only delightful in contemplation, 
but really interesting to all the world, friends, foes and neutrals. 
(To Patrick Henry, 1779. F. II., 176.) 

Charity. — We are all doubtless bound to contribute a certain 
portion of our income to the support of charitable and other 
useful public institutions. But it is a part of our duty also to 
apply our contributions in the most effectual way we can to se- 
cure this object. The question then is whether this will not 
be better done by each of us appropriating our whole contribu- 
tion to the institutions within our reach, under our own eye, 
and over which we can exercise some useful control? Or 
would it be better that each should divide the sum he can spare 
among all the institutions of his State or the United States? 
Reason and the interest of these institutions themselves, cer- 
tainly decide in favor of the former practice. (To Samuel 
Kercheval, 1810. C. V., 489.) 

Christianity. — I have a view of Christianity which ought to 
displease neither the rational Christian nor Deists, and would 
reconcile many to a character they have too hastily rejected. I 
do not know that it would reconcile the genus irritabile vatinn. 
* * * And as every sect believes its own form the true one, 
every one hopes for his own, but especially the Episcopalians 
and Congregationalists. The returning good sense of our coun- 
try threatens abortion to their hopes and they believe that 
any portion of power confided to me will be exerted in opposi- 
tion to their schemes. And they believe rightly; for I have 
sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form 
of tyranny over the mind of man. But this is all they have to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 1 53 

fear from me; and enough, too, in their opinion, and this is 
the cause of their printing lying pamphlets against me. (To 
Benjamin Rush, 1800. F. VII., 460.) 

Christianity. — To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed 
opposed ; but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am 
a Christian in the only sense he wished any one to be; sincerely 
attached to His doctrines in preference to all others; ascribing 
to Himself every human excellence; and believing he never 
claimed any other. (To Benjamin Rush, 1803. F. VIII., 223.) 

Christianity. — But a short time elapsed after the death of 
the Great Reformer of the Jewish religion before His principles 
were departed from by those who professed to be his special 
servants, and perverted into an engine for enslaving mankind, 
and aggrandizing the oppressors in Church and State; that the 
purest system of morals ever before preached to man has been 
adulterated and sophisticated by artificial constructions into a 
mere contrivance to filch wealth and power to themselves; that 
rational men not being able to swallow their impious heresies, 
in order to force them dow^n their throats, they raise the hue 
and cry of infidelity, which themselves are the greatest obstacles 
to the advancement of the real doctrines of Jesus, and do, in fact, 
constitute the real Anti-Christ. (To Samuel Kercheval, 18 10. 

c. v., 492.) 

Christianity. — I have made a wee-little book from the same 
materials, which I call the Philosophy of Jesus; it is a paradigma 
of his doctrines, made by cutting the text out of the book, and 
arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order 
of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of 
ethics I have never seen; it is a document in proof that I am 
a real Christian, that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines of 
Jesus, very different from the Platonists, who call me infidel and 
themselves Christians and preachers of the gospel, while they 
draw all their characteristic dogmas from what its author never 
said nor saw. They have compounded from the heathen mys- 
teries a system beyond the comprehension of rnan, of which the 
Great Reformer of the vicious ethics and Deism of the Jews, 



154 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

were He to return on earth, would not recognize one feature. 
(To Charles Thompson, 1816. C. VI., 518.) 

Christianity. — See Jesus, Religion. 

Church and State. — Our sister States of Pennsylvania and 
New York have long subsisted without any establishment at all. 
The experiment was new and doubtful when they made it. It 
has answered beyond conception. They flourish infinitely. Re- 
ligion is well supported; of various kinds indeed, but all good 
enough; all sufficient to preserve peace and order; or if a sect 
arises whose tenets would subvert morals, good sense has fair 
play, and reason laughs it out of doors, without suffering the 
State to be troubled with it. Their harmony is unparalleled, 
and can be ascribed to nothing but their unbounded tolerance, 
because there is no other circumstance in which they differ 
from every nation on earth. They have made the happy discov- 
ery, that the way to silence religious disputes is to take no 
notice of them. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 

2650 

Cincinnati, Society of. — A single fibre left of this institution 
will produce an hereditary aristocracy which will change the 
form of our government from the best to the worst in the world. 
The branches of this institution cover all the States. The South- 
ern ones at this time are aristocratical in their dispositions and 
that that spirit should grow and extend itself is within the 
natural order of things. I do not flatter myself with the immor- 
tality of our governments; but I shall think little also of their 
longevity unless this germ of destruction is taken out. (To 
George Washington, written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 329.) 

Cities. — When great evils happen, I am in the habit of looking 
out for what good may arise from them as consolations to us, 
and Providence has in fact so established the order of things 
as that most evils are the means of producing some good. The 
yellow fever will discourage the growth of great cities In our 
nation, and I view great cities as pestilential to the morals, the 
health, and the liberties of man. True they nourish some of the 
elegant arts, but the useful ones can thrive elsewhere and less 
perfection in the others with more health, virtue and freedom 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 155 

would be my choice. (To Benjamin Rush, 1800. F. VII., 458.) 
Citizenship. — The man who loves his country on its own ac- 
count and not merely for its trappings of interest or power can 
never lie divorced from it, can never refuse to come forward 
when he finds that she is engaged in dangers which he has the 
means of warding ofT, Make, then, an effort, my friend, to 
renounce your domestic comforts for a few months and reflect 
that to be a good husband and a good father at this moment 
3^ou must also be a good citizen. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1797. 
F. VII., 151.) 

Citizenship. — In the constitution of Spain, as proposed by the 
late Cortes, there was a principle entirely new to me, and not 
noticed in yours, that no person, born after that day, should ever 
acquire the rights of citizenship until he could read and write. 
It is impossible suf^ciently to estimate the wasdom of this pro- 
vision. Of all those which have been thought of for securing 
fidelity in the administration of the government, constant ral- 
liance to the principles of the constitution, and progressive 
amendments with the progressive advances of the human mind, 
or changes in human affairs, it is the most effectual. Enlighten 
the people generally, and tyranny and oppression of body and 
mind will vanish like evil spirits at the dawn of day. Although 
I do not, with some enthusiasts, believe that the human con- 
dition will ever advance to such a state of perfection as that 
there shall no longer be pain or vice in the world, yet I believe 
it susceptible of much improvement, and most of all in matters 
of government and religion ; and that the diffusion of knowledge 
among the people is to be the instrument by which it is to be 
effected. (To Dupont de Nemours, 1816. C. VI., 592.) 

Civil Power. — To render these proceedings still more criminal 
against our laws, instead of subjecting the military to the civil 
powers, his majesty has expressly made the civil subordinate to 
the military. But can his majesty put down all law under his 
feet? Can he erect a power superior to that which erected 
himself? He has done it indeed by force, but let him remem- 
ber that force cannot give right. (From "A Summary View," 
1774- F. I.,445.) 



156 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Civil Rights, — Our civil rights have no dependence on our 
rehgious opinions, any more than on our opinions in physics or 
geometry; and, therefore, the proscribing any citizen as un- 
worthy the pubHc confidence by laying upon him an incapacity 
of being called to offices of trust or emolument, unless he pro- 
fess or renounce this or that religious opinion, is depriving him 
judicially of those privileges and advantages to which, in 
common with his fellow-citizens he has a natural right. (From 
a bill for establishing religious freedom, 1779. F, II., 238.) 

Civil Service. — Your recommendation of Mr. Reynolds 
would have given me all the disposition possible to have found 
a place for him. But in the office to which I have been called, all 
was full, and I could not in any case think it just to turn out those 
in possession who have behaved well, merely to put others in. 
(To Francis Willis, 1790. F. V., 157.) 

Civil Service. — Out of about six hundred offices named by 
the President there were six Republicans only when I came into 
office and these were chiefly half-breeds. Out of upwards of 
three hundred holding office during pleasure, I removed about 
fifteen or those who had signalized themselves by their own in- 
tolerance in office, because the public voice called for it imper- 
iously, and it was just that the Republicans should at length 
have some participation in the government. There never was 
another removal but for such delinquencies as removed the 
Republicans equally. In the horrid drudgery I always felt my- 
self as a public executioner, an office which no one who knows 
me, I hope, supposes very grateful to my feelings. It was 
considerably alleviated, however, by the industry of their news- 
papers in endeavoring to excite resentment enough to enable 
me to meet the operation. (To William Short, 1807. F. IX., 

51.) 

Civil Service. — See Offices, Rotation, Nepotism, 

The Classics. — You ask my opinion on the extent to which 

classical learning should be carried in our country. A sickly 

condition permits me to think, and a rheumatic hand to write 

too briefly on this litigated question. The utilities we derive 

from the remains of the Greek and Latin languages are, first. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 157 

as models of pure taste in writing. To these we are certainly 
indebted for the national and chaste style of modern composi- 
tion which so much distinguishes the nations to whom these 
languages are familiar. Without these models we should prob- 
ably have continued the inflated style of our Northern ances- 
tors, or the hyperbolical and vague one of the East. 2d. 
Among the values of classical learning, I estimate the luxury of 
reading the Greek and Roman authors in all the beauties of their 
originals. And why should not this innocent and elegant lux- 
ury take its pre-eminent stand ahead of all those addressed 
merely to the senses? I think myself more indebted to my 
father for this than for all the other luxuries his cares and 
affections have placed within my reach; and more now than 
when younger, and more susceptible of delights from other 
sources. When the decays of age have enfeebled the useful 
energies of the mind, the classic pages fill up the vacuum of 
ennui and become sweet composers to that rest of the grave 
into which we are all sooner or later to descend. 3d. A third 
value is in the stores of real science deposited, and trans- 
mitted us in these languages, to wit: in history, ethics, arith- 
metic, geometry, astronomy, natural history, etc. 

But to whom are these things useful? Certainly not to all 
men. There are conditions of life to which they must be for- 
ever estranged, and there are epochs of life too, after which the 
endeavor to attain them would be a great misemployment of 
time. Their acquisition should be the occupation of our early 
years only, when the memory is susceptible of deep and lasting 
impressions, and reason and judgment not yet strong enough 
for abstract speculations. (To John Brazier, 1819. C. VII., 

131-) 

Clergy. — I observe in the same scheme of a constitution an 
abridgment of the right of being elected, which after seven- 
teen years more of experience and reflection I do not approve. 
It is incapacitation of a clergyman from being elected. The 
clerg}- by getting themselves established by law and ingrafted 
into the machine of government have been a very formidable 
engine against the civil and religious rights of man. They 



158 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

are still so in many countries and even in some of these United 
States. Even in 1783, we doubted the stability of our recent 
measures for reducing them to the footing of other useful call- 
ings. It now appears that our means were effectual. The 
clergy here seem to have relinquished all pretensions to privilege 
and to stand on a footing with lawyers, physicians, etc. They 
ought, therefore, to possess the same rights. (To Jeremiah 
Moore, 1800. F. VII., 454.) 

Clergy. — The Palladium is understood to be the clerical pa- 
per, and from the clergy I expect no mercy. They crucified their 
Saviour, who preached that their kingdom was not of this 
world; and all who practice on that precept must expect the 
extreme of their wrath. The laws of the present day withhold 
their hands from blood; but lies and slander still remain to 
them. (To Levi Lincoln, 1801. F. VII., 84.) 

Colleges. — You have now an happy opportunity of carrying 
this intermediate establishment into execution without laying 
a cent of tax on the people, or taking one from the treasury. 
Divide the State into college districts of about eighty miles 
square each. There would be about eight such districts below 
the Alleghany, and two beyond it, which would be necessarily 
of larger extent because of the sparseness of their population. 
The only advance these colleges would call for, would be for 
a dwelling house for the teacher, of about one thousand two 
hundred dollars cost, and a boarding house with four or five bed 
rooms, and a school room for probably about twenty or thirty 
boys. The whole should cost not more than five thousand 
dollars, but the funds of William and Mary would enable you 
to give them ten thousand dollars each. The district might be 
so laid ofT that the principal towns and the academies now ex- 
isting might form convenient sites for their colleges; as, for 
example, Williamsburg, Richmond, Fredericksburg, Hamp- 
den Sydney, Lynchburg or Lexington, Staunton, Winchester, 
etc. Thus, of William and Mary, you will make ten colleges, 
each as useful as she ever was, leaving one in Williamsburg 
by itself, placing as good a one within a day's ride of every 
man in the State and get our whole scheme of education com- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 159 

pletely established. (To , 1824. C. VII., 385.) 

Colonies. — Ancient nations considered Colonies principally 
as receptacles for a too numerous population, and as natural and 
useful allies in times of war; but modern nations, viewing com- 
merce as an object of first importance, value Colonies chiefly 
as instruments for the increase of that. (To the Sw^edish Em- 
bassador at Paris, 1786. F. IV., 238.) 

Commerce. — Our interest will be to throw oi>en the doors of 
commerce, and to knock off all its shackles, giving perfect free- 
dom to all persons for the vent of whatever they may choose 
to bring into our ports and asking the same in theirs. (From 
''Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 279.) 

Commerce. — All the world is becoming commercial. Were 
it practicable to keep our new empire separated from them 
we might indulge ourselves in speculating whether commerce 
contributes to the happiness of mankind. But we cannot sepa- 
rate ourselves from them. Our citizens have had too full a taste 
of the comforts furnished by the arts and manufactures to be 
debarred the use of them. We must then in our defense en- 
deavor to share as large a portion as we can of this modern 
source of w'ealth and power. (To George Washington, 1784. 
F. III., 422.) 

Commerce. — With England nothing will produce a treaty but 
an enforcement of the resolutions of Congress proposing that 
there should be no trade where there is no treaty. The infatu- 
ation of that nation seems really preternatural. If anything 
will open their eyes it will be the application to the avarice of 
the merchants who are the very people who have opposed the 
treaty first meditated, and who have excited the spirit of hostil- 
ity at present prevailing against us. Deaf to every principle of 
common sense, insensible to the feelings of men, they firmly 
believe they shall be permitted by us to keep all the carrying 
trade and that we shall attempt no act of retaliation because 
they are pleased to think it our interest not to do so. (Written 
from Paris to Jam.es Madison, 1784. F. VI., 7.) 

Commerce. — Congress, by the Confederation, have no original 
and inherent power over the comnierce of the States. But by 



l6o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the 9th article they are authorized to enter into treaties of 
commerce. The moment these treaties are concluded the juris- 
diction of Congress over the commerce springs into existence, 
and that of the particular State is superseded so far as the 
articles of the treaty may have taken up the subject. * * * 
You see my primary object in the formation of treaties is to 
take the commerce of the States out of the hands of the States, 
and to place it under the superintendence of Congress so far 
as the imperfect provisions of our Constitution v^'ill admit, and 
until the States shall by new compact make them more per- 
fect. (From a letter to James Monroe from Paris, 1785. F. 
IV., 56.) 

Commerce. — I have heard with great pleasure that our as- 
sembly have come to the resolution of giving the regulation of 
commerce to the federal head. I will venture to assert that 
there is not one of its opposers who, placed on this ground, 
would not see the wisdom of this measure. The politics of 
Europe render it indispensably necessary that with respect to 
everything external we be one nation only, firmly hooped to- 
gether. Interior Government is what each State should keep to 
itself. If it could be seen in Europe that all our States could be 
brought to concur in what the Virginia assembly has done, it 
would produce a total revolution in their opinion of us, and 
respect for us. And it should ever be held in m.ind that insult 
and war are the consequences of a want of respectability in the 
national character. As long as the States exercise separately 
those acts of power which respect foreign nations, so long will 
there continue to be irregularities committed by some one or 
other of them, which will constantly keep us on an ill footing 
with foreign nations. (Written from Paris to James Madison, 
1786. F. IV., 192.) 

Commerce. — I have laid my shoulder to the opening of the 
markets of this country to our produce, and rendering its 
transportation a nursery for our seamen. A maritime force is 
the only one by which we can act on Europe. Our navigation 
law (if it be wise to have any) should be the reverse of that of 
England. Instead of confining importations to home bottoms 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON l6l 

or those of the producing nations, I think we should confine 
exportations to home bottoms or to those nations having 
treaties with us. Our exportations are heavy, and would nourish 
a great force of our own, or be a tempting price to the nation 
to whom we should offer a participation of it in exchange for 
free access to all their possessions. (To George Washington, 
written in Paris, 1788. F. V., 58.) 

Commerce. — Instead of embarrassing commerce under piles 
of regulating laws, duties and prohibitions, could it be relieved 
of all its shackles in all parts of the world, could every country 
be employed in producing that which nature has best fitted it 
to produce, and each be free to exchange with others mutual 
surpluses for mutual wants, the greatest mass possible would 
then be produced of those things which contribute to human 
life and human happiness; the numbers of mankind would be 
increased and their condition bettered. 

Would even a single nation begin with the United States this 
system of free commerce, it would be advisable to begin it with 
that nation, since it is one by one only that it can extend to 
all. Where the circumstances of either party render it ex- 
pedient to levy a revenue, by way of import, on commerce, its 
freedom might be modified in that particular by mutual and 
equivalent measures, preserving it entire in all others. (From 
a Report on the Commerce of the United States, 1793. F. 
VI., 480.) 

Commerce. — Where a nation imposes high duties on our 
productions or prohibits them altogether, it may be proper for 
us to do the same by theirs; first burdening or excluding those 
productions which they bring here in competition with our own 
of the same kind; selecting next such manufactures as we take 
from them in greatest quantity, and which, at the same time 
we could the soonest furnish to ourselves or obtain from other 
countries; imposing on them duties lighter at first, but heavier 
and heavier afterwards, as other channels of supply open. Such 
duties having the effect of indirect encouragement to domestic 
manufactures of the same kind, may induce the manufacturer 
to come himself into these States, where cheaper subsistence, 



l62 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

equal laws, and a vent of his wares free of duty may ensure him 
the highest profits from his skill and industry. And here it 
would be in the power of the State Governments to co-operate 
essentially by opening the resources of encouragement which 
are under their control, extending them liberally to artists in 
those particular branches of manufacture for which their soil, 
climate, population, and other circumstances have matured 
them, and fostering the precious efforts and progress of house- 
hold manufacture by some patronage suited to the nature of 
its objects, guided by the local informations they possess, and 
guarded against abuse by their presence and attentions. The 
oppressions on our agriculture in foreign ports would thus be 
made the occasion of relieving it from a dependence on the 
councils and conduct of others, and of promoting arts, manufac- 
tures and population at home. (From a Report on the Com- 
merce of the United States, 1793. F. VI., 481.) 

Commerce. — What a glorious exchange it would be could we 
persuade our navigating fellow citizens to embark their cap- 
ital in the internal commerce of our country, excluding foreign- 
ers from that and let them take the carrying trade in exchange; 
aboHsh the diplomatic establishments and never suffer an armed 
vessel of any nation to enter our ports. (To Edmund Pendle- 
ton, 1799. F. VII., S76.) 

Commerce. — I hope with you that the policy of our country 
will settle down with as much navigation and commerce only 
as our own exchanges will require, and that the disadvantage 
will be seen of our undertaking to carry on that of other nations. 
This, indeed, may bring gain to a few individuals, and enable 
them to call off from our farms more laborers to be converted 
into lackeys and grooms for them, but it will bring nothing to 
our country but wars, debt and dilapidation. (To J. B. Stuart, 
1817. C VII., 64.) 

Common Law. — Of all the doctrines which have ever been 
broached by the Federal Government the novel one of the com- 
mon law being in force and cognizable as an existing law in their 
courts is to me the most formidable. All their other assump- 
tions of un-given powers have been in the detail. The bank 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 163 

law, the treaty doctrine, the sedition act, alien act * * * 
have been soHtary, unconsequential, timid things, in compari- 
son with the audacious, barefaced and sweeping pretension 
to a system of law for the United States without the adoption 
of their legislature, and so infinitely beyond their power to 
adopt. If this assumption be yielded to, the State courts may 
be shut up, as there will then be nothing to hinder citizens of 
the same State suing each other in the Federal courts in every 
case, as on a bond for instance, because the common law obliges 
payment of it, and the common law they say is their law. (To 
Edmund Randolph, 1799. F. VIL, 384.) 

Compromise. — A government held together by the bands of 
reason only, requires much compromise of opinion; that things 
even salutary should not be crammed down the throats of 
dissenting brethren, especially when they may be put into a form 
to be willingly swallowed, and that a great deal of indulgence 
is necessary to strengthen habits of harmony and fraternity. 
(To Edward Livingston, 1824. C. VIL, 343.) 

Confederacies. — Whether we remain in one Confederacy, or 
form into Atlantic and Mississippi Confederacies, I believe not 
very important to the happiness of either part. Those of the 
Western Confederacy will be as much children and descendants 
as those of the Eastern, and I feel myself as much identified 
with that country, in future time, as with this; and did I now 
foresee a separation at some future day, yet I should feel the 
duty and the desire to promote the Western interests as zeal- 
ously as the Eastern, doing all the good for both portions of 
our future family which should fall within my power. (To 
Joseph Priestly, 1804. F. VIIL, 295.) 

Confederation. — The power of declaring war and concluding 
peace, of contracting alliances, of issuing letters of marque and 
reprisal, of raising and introducing armed forces, of building 
armed vessels, forts or strongholds, of coining money or regu- 
lating its value, of regulating weights and measures, we leave to 
be exercised under the authority of the Confederation; but in 
all cases respecting them which are out of the said Confedera- 
tion, they shall be exercised by the Governor under the regu- 



164 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

lation of such laws as the legislature may think it expedient 
to pass. (From a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1783. 
F. III., 326.) 

Confederation. — It has often been said that the decisions of 
Congress are impotent because the Confederation provides no 
compulsory power. But when two or more nations enter into 
compact it is not usual for them to say what shall be done 
to the party who infringes it. Decency forbids this, and it is un- 
necessary as indecent, because the right of compulsion natur- 
ally results to the party injured by the breach. When any one 
State in the American Union refuses obedience to the Confeder- 
ation by "which they have bound themselves, the rest have a 
natural right to compel them to obedience. Congress would 
probably exercise long patience before they would recur to 
force; but if the case ultimately required it, they would use 
that recurrence. (From Answers propounded by M. de Meus- 
nier, 1786. F. IV., 140.) 

Confederation. — The Confederation is a wonderfully perfect 
instrument considering the circumstances under which it was 
formed. There are, however, some alterations which experience 
proves to be wanting. (From answers to questions propounded 
by M. de Meusnier, 1786. F. IV., 141.) 

Confederation. — It has been so often said as to be generally 
believed, that Congress have no power by the Confederation to 
enforce anything, for example, contributions of money. It 
was not necessary to give them that power expressly; they 
have it by the law of nature. When two parties make a compact, 
there results to each a power of compelling the other to execute 
it. Compulsion was never so easy as in our case, where a single 
frigate would soon levy on the commerce of any State the de- 
ficiency of its contributions; nor more safe than in the hands of 
Congress which has always shown that it would wait, as it 
ought to do, to the last extremities before it would execute 
any of its powers which are disagreeable. (To Edward Carring- 
ton, written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 424.) 

Confidence. — It would be a dangerous delusion were a con- 
fidence in the men of our choice to silence our fears for the safety 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 165 

of our rights; confidence is everywhere the parent of despotism 
— free Government is founded on jealousy, and not in confi- 
dence; it is jealousy and not confidence which prescribes limited 
Constitutions to bind down those whom w-e are obliged to 
trust with pow-er; our Constitution has accordingly fixed the 
limits to which, and no further, our confidence may go; and 
let the honest advocate of confidence read the Alien and Sedi- 
tion acts and say if the Constitution has not been wise in fixing 
limits to the government it created, and whether we should be 
W'ise in destroying those limits. In questions of power, then, 
let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down 
from mischief by the chains of the Constitution. (From ''Ken- 
tucky Resolutions," 1798. F. VII., 304.) 

Congress. — Resolved unanimously that this Assembly of Vir- 
ginia w^ill not listen to any proposition or suffer any nego- 
tiation inconsistent with their national faith and Federal union, 
and that a proposition from the enemy for treating with any 
Assembly or body of men in America other than the Congress 
of these United States is insidious and inadmissible. (Resolu- 
tions concerning peace with England, 1778, F. II., 160.) 

Congress. — The negative proposed to be given Congress on 
all the acts of the several legislatures is now for the first time 
suggested to my mind. Prima facie I do not like it. It fails in 
an essential character that the hole and the patch should be 
commensurate. But this proposes to mend a small hole by 
covering the whole garment. Not more than one out of one 
hundred State acts concern the Confederacy. Tliis proposition, 
then, in order to give them one degree of power which they 
ought to have, gives themi 99 more which they ought not to 
have, upon a presumption that they will not exercise the 99. 
* * * Would not an appeal from the State judicatures to a 
Federal court in all cases where the act of Confederation con- 
trolled the question be as effectual a remedy and exactly com- 
mensurate to the defect? A British creditor, for example, sues 
for his debt in Virginia; the defendant pleads an act of the State 
excluding him from their courts; the plaintiff urges the Con- 
federation and the treaty made under that, as controlling the 



l66 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

State law; the judges are weak enough to decide according to 
the views of their legislature. An appeal to a Federal court sets 
all to rights. It will be said that this court may encroach on 
the jurisdiction of the State courts. It may. But there will 
be a power, towit, Congress, to watch and restrain them. But 
place the same authority in Congress itself, and there will be 
no power above them to perform the same office. They will 
restrain within due bounds a jurisdiction exercised by others 
more rigorously than if exercised by themselves. (To James 
Madison, written from Paris, 1787. F. IV., 391.) 

Conquest. — It is an established principle that conquest gives 
inchoate right, which does not become perfect till confirmed by 
the treaty of peace, and by a renunciation or abandonment by 
the former proprietor. (From a Report on the Negotiation 
with Spain, 1792. F. V., 463.) 

Consolidation. — This will contain matters not intended for 
the public eye. I see as you do, and with the deepest aifiiction, 
the rapid strides with which the Federal branch of our govern- 
ment is advancing toward the usurpation of all the rights reserved 
to the States, and the consolidation in itself of all powers for- 
eign and domestic; and that too by constructions which, if 
legitimate, have no limits to their power. Take together the 
decisions of the Federal court, the decision of the President 
and the misconstructions of the Constitutional compact acted 
on by the legislators of the Federal branch, and it is but too 
evident that the three ruling branches of that department are in 
combination to strip their colleagues, the State authorities, of 
the powers reserved by them and to exercise themselves all func- 
tions, foreign and domestic. Under the power to regulate 
commerce they assume indefinitely that also over agriculture 
and manufacture and call it regulation to take the earnings of 
one of these branches of industry, and that too the most de- 
pressed, and put them into the pockets of the other, the most 
flourishing of all. Under the authority to establish post-roads 
they claim that of cutting down mountains for the construction 
of roads, of digging canals, and aided by a little sophistry on 
the words "general w^elfare;" a right to do not only the acts 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 167 

to effect that which are specifically enumerated and permitted, 
but whatever they shall think or pretend will be for the general 
w-elfare. And what is our resource for the preservation of the 
Constitution? Reason and argument? You might as well rea- 
son and argue with the marble columns encircling them. They 
are joined in the combination, some from incorrect views of 
government, some from corrupt ones, sufficient voting together 
to out-number the sound parts, and with majorities of only one, 
two or three bold enough to go forward in defiance. Are we 
then to stand to our arms with the hot-headed Georgian? No. 
That must be the last resource, not to be thought of until much 
longer and greater sufferings. If every infraction of a compact 
of so many parties is to be resisted at once as a dissolution of 
it none can ever be formed which would last one year. We must 
have patience and longer endurance, then, with our brethren 
while under delusion; give them time for reflection and exper- 
ience of consequences; keep ourselves in a situation to profit 
by the chapter of accidents; and separate from our companies 
only when the sole alternatives left are the dissolution of our 
union with them, or submission to a government without limi- 
tation of powers. Between these tv/o evils, wdien w^e must take 
a choice, there can be no hesitation. But in the meanwhile, 
the States should be watchful to note every material usurpa- 
tion on their rights, to denounce them as they occur in the most 
peremptory terms; to protest against them as wrongs to which 
our present submission shall be considered not as acknowledg- 
ments or precedents of right but as a temporary yielding to the 
lesser evil until their accumulation shall overweigh that of 
separation. (To William Giles, 1825. C. VII., 426.) 

The Constitution. — I answer that constitutio, constihitum, 
statum, lex are convertible terms. The term constitution has 
many significations in physics and politics; but in jurisprudence, 
whenever it is applied to any act of the legislature, it invariably, 
means a statute, law, or ordinance. * * * 'J'q ^^^ rid of 
the magic supposed to be in the word constitution, let us trans- 
late it into its definition as given by those who think it above 
the power of the law ; and let us suppose the convention, [of Vir- 



l68 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ginia] instead of saying, "We, the ordinary Legislature, estab- 
lish a Constitution," had said, "We, the ordinary Legislature, 
establish an act above the power of the ordinary Legislature." 
(From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. IIL, 228.) 

The Constitution. — I find by the public papers that your 
Commercial Convention failed in point of representation. If it 
should produce a full meeting in May, 1787, and a broader 
reformation it will still be well. To make us one nation as to 
foreign concerns, and keep us distinct in domestic ones, gives 
the outlines of the proper division of power between the general 
and the particular governments. But to enable the Federal 
head to exercise the power given it, to best advantage, it 
should be organized, as the particular ones are into Legislative, 
Executive and Judiciary. When last with Congress I often 
proposed to members to do this by making of the committee 
of the States, an executive committee during its sessions to 
appoint a committee to receive and despatch all executive busi- 
ness, so that Congress itself should meddle only with what 
should be legislative. But I question if any Congress (much 
less all successively) can have self-denial enough to go through 
this distribution. The distribution should be imposed on them. 
(To James Madison, written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 333.) 

The Constitution. — I like the power given to the legislature 
to levy taxes, and for that reason solely approve of the greater 
House being chosen by the people directly. For though I think 
a House chosen by them will be very illy qualified to legislate 
for the Union, for foreign nations, etc., yet this evil does not 
weigh against the good of preserving inviolate the fundamental 
principle that the people are not to be taxed but by representa- 
tives chosen immediately by themselves. I am captivated by 
the compromise of the opposite claims of the great and little 
States, of the latter to equal, and the former to proportional 
influence. I am much pleased, too, with the substitution of the 
method of voting by persons, instead of that of voting by States; 
and I like the negative given to the Executive with a third of 
either House, though I should have liked it better had the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 169 

Judiciary been associated for that purpose, or invested with 
a similar and separate power. 

I will now add what I do not like. First, the omission of a 
bill of Rights providing clearly and without the aid of sophisms 
for freedom of religion, freedom of the press, protection against 
standing armies, restriction against monopolies, the eternal and 
unremitting force of the habeas corpus laws, and trials by jury 
in all matters of fact triable by the laws of the land and not 
by the laws of the Nation. * * * ^ l^jU Qf rights is what 
the people are entitled to against every government on earth. 
* * * The second feature I dislike, and greatly dislike, is 
the abandonment in every instance of the necessity of rotation 
in office, and most particularly in the case of the President. 
Experience concurs with reason in concluding that the first 
magistrate will always be re-elected if the Constitution permits 
it. He is then an officer for life. * * * 'p^^ power of 
removing him every fourth year by the vote of the people is a 
power which will not be exercised. The King of Poland is re- 
movable every day by the Diet, yet he is never removed. Smaller 
objections are the appeal in fact as well as law, and the binding 
all persons, Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary by oath to 
maintain that Constitution. After all, it is my principle that 
the will of the majority should always prevail. If they approve 
the proposed Constitution in all its parts, I shall concur in it 
cheerfully, in hopes that they will amend it w'henever they shall 
find it work wrong. (To James Madison, written in Paris, 1787. 
F. IV., 476.) 

The Constitution. — As to the new Constitution, I find my- 
self nearly a neutral. There is a great mass of good in it, in a 
very desirable form; but there is also to me a bitter pill or 
two. I have written somewhat lengthy to Mr. Madison on 
this subject and will take the liberty to refer you to that part of 
my letter to him. I will add one question to what I have said 
there. Would it not have been better to assign to Congress 
exclusively the articles of imposts for Federal purposes, and to 
have left direct taxation exclusively to the States? I should 
suppose the former fund sufficient for all probable events, aided 



lyo THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

by the land office. (To Edward Carrington, 1787. F. IV., 482.) 
The Constitution. — I am glad to learn that the new Consti- 
tution will undoubtedly be received by a sufficiency of the States 
to set it a going. Were I in America, I would advocate it warmly 
till nine should have adopted it, and then as warmly take the 
other side to convince the remaining four that they ought not 
to come into it until the declaration of rights is annexed to it. 
By this means we should secure all the good of it and procure 
so respectable an opposition as would induce the accepting 
States to offer a bill of rights. =!< * =i< j f^^j. niuch the ef- 
fects of the perpetual re-eligibility of the President. (To Stephens 
Smith, written in Paris, 1788. F. V., 2.) 

The Constitution. — I congratulate you on the accession of 
your State (South Carolina) to the new Federal Constitution. 
* * * Our Government wanted bracing. Still we must take 
care not to run from one extreme to another; not to brace 
too high. I own I join those in opinion who think a bill of Rights 
necessary. I apprehended too that the total abandonment of the 
principle of rotation in the offices of President and Senator 
will end in abuse. But my confidence is that there will for a 
long time be virtue and good sense enough in our countrymen 
to correct abuses. We can surely boast of having set the world 
a beautiful example of a government reformed by reason alone 
without bloodshed. (To Edward Rutledge, written in Paris, 
1788. F. v., 42.) 

The Constitution. — The operations which have taken place 
in America lately, fill me with pleasure. In the first place they 
realize the confidence I had that whenever our affairs go ob- 
viously wrong the good sense of the people will interfere and set 
them to rights. The example of changing a Constitution by 
assembling the wise men of the State, instead of assembling 
armies, will be worth as much to the world as the former ex- 
amples we had given them. The Constitution, too, which was 
the result of our deliberations, is unquestionably the wisest ever 
produced to men, and some of the accommodations of interest 
which it has adopted are greatly pleasing to me who have before 
had occasions of seeing how difficult those interests were to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 171 

accommodate. (Written to David Humphreys, from Paris, 
1789. F. v., 89.) 

The Constitution. — But when I consider that the hmits of 
the United States are precisely fixed by the treaty of 1783, that 
the Constitution expressly declares itself to be made for the 
United States, I cannot help believing the intention was to 
permit Congress to admit into the Union new States, which 
should be formed out of the territory for which, and under 
whose authority alone, they were then acting. I do not be- 
lieve it was meant that they might receive England, Ireland, 
Holland, etc., into it, which would be the case on your con- 
struction. When an instrument admits two constructions, the 
one safe, the other dangerous, the one precise, the other in- 
definite, I prefer that which is safe and precise. I had rather 
ask an enlargement of power from the nation, where it is found 
necessary, than to assume it by a construction which would 
make our powers boundless. Our peculiar security is in pos- 
session of a written Constitution. Let us not make it blank 
paper by construction. I say the same as to the opinion of those 
who consider the grant of the treaty making power as bound- 
less. If it is, then we have no Constitution. If it has bounds, 
they can be no others than the definitions of the powers which 
that instrument gives. It specifies and deHneates the opera- 
tions permitted to the Federal Government, and gives all the 
powers necessary to carry these into execution. Whatever of 
these enumerated objects is proper for a law. Congress may 
make the law; whatever is proper to be executed by way of a 
treaty, the President and Senate may enter into the treaty; what- 
ever is done by a Judicial sentence, the Judges may pass the 
sentence. Nothing is more likely than that their enumeration 
of powers is defective. This is the ordinary case of all human 
works. Let us go on then perfecting it, by adding, by way of 
amendment to the Constitution, those powers which time and 
trial show are still wanting. But it has been taken too much 
for granted, that by the rigorous construction the treaty power 
would be reduced to nothing. I had occasion once to examine 
its effect on the French treaty, made by the old Congress, and 



172 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

found that out of thirty odd articles which that contained, 
there were one, two, or three only which could not now be 
stipulated under our present Constitution. I confess, then, I 
think it important, in the present case, to set an example against 
broad construction, by appealing for new power to the people. 
If, however, our friends shall think differently, certainly I shall 
acquiesce with satisfaction; confiding, that the good sense of 
our country will correct the evil of construction when it shall 
produce ill effects. (To W. C. Nicholas, 1803. F. VIII., 247.) 

The Constitution. — A Constitution has been acquired, 
which, though neither of us thinks perfect, yet both consider as 
competent to render our fellow citizens the happiest and the se- 
curest on whom the sun has ever shone. If we do not think exactly 
alike as to its imperfections, it matters little to our country, 
which, after devoting to it long lives of disinterested labor, we 
have delivered over to our successors in life, who will be able to 
take care of it and of themselves. (To John Adams, 1813. 
C. VI., 227.) 

The Constitution. — Some men look at Constitutions with 
sanctimonious reverence, and deem them like the ark of the 
covenant, too sacred to be touched. They ascribe to the men 
of the preceding age a wisdom more than human, and suppose 
what they did to be beyond amendment. I knew that age well; 
I belonged to it, and labored with it. It deserved well of its 
country. It was very like the present; and forty years of ex- 
perience in government is worth a century of book-reading; 
and this they would say themselves, were they to rise from the 
dead. I am certainly not an advocate for frequent and untried 
changes in laws and constitutions. I think moderate imperfec- 
tions had better be borne with; because, when once known, 
we accommodate ourselves to them, and find practical means 
of correcting their ill effects. But I know, also, that laws and in- 
stitutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human 
mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, 
as new discoveries are made, new truths disclosed, and manners 
and opinions change with the change of circumstances, institu- 
tions must advance also, and keep pace with the times. We 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 173 

might as \Yell require a man to wear still the coat which fitted 
him when a boy, as civilized society to remain ever under the 
regimen of their barbarous ancestors. It is this preposterous 
idea which has lately deluged Europe in blood. Their mon- 
archs, instead of wisely yielding to the gradual change of cir- 
cumstances, of favoring progressive accommodation to pro- 
gressive improvement, have clung to old abuses, entrenched 
themselves behind steady habits, and obliged their subjects to 
seek through blood and violence rash and ruinous innovations, 
which, had they been referred to the peaceful deliberations and 
collected wisdom of the nation, would have been put into accept- 
able and salutary form. Let us follow no such examples, nor 
weakly believe that one generation is not as capable as another 
of taking care of itself, and of ordering its own affairs. Let us, 
as our sister States have done, avail ourselves of our reason and 
experience, to correct the crude essays of our first and unex- 
perienced, although wise, virtuous, and well-meaning councils. 
And lastly, let us provide in our Constitution for its revision at 
stated periods. What these periods should be, nature herself 
indicates. By the European tables of mortality, of the adults 
living at any one moment of time, a majority will be dead in 
about nineteen years. At the end of that period then a new- 
majority is come into place; or, in other words, a new gener- 
ation. Each generation is as independent of the one preceding, 
as that was of all which had gone before. It has, then, like them, 
a right to choose for itself the form of government it believes 
most promotive of its own happiness; consequently, to accom- 
modate to the circumstances in which it finds itself, that received 
from its predecessors; and it is for the peace and good of man- 
kind, that a solemn opportunity of doing this ever>^ nineteen or 
twenty years, should be provided by the Constitution; so that it 
may be handed on, with periodical repairs, from generation, to 
generation, to generation, to the end of time, if anything human 
can endure so long. It is now forty years since the Constitution 
of Virginia was formed. The same tables inform us, that, within 
that period, two-thirds of the adults then living are now' dead. 
Have then the remaining third, even if thev had the wish, the 



174 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

right to hold in obedience to their will, and to laws heretofore 
made by them, the other two-thirds, who, with themselves, com- 
pose the present mass of adults? If they have not, who has? 
The dead? But the dead have no rights. They are nothing; 
and nothing cannot be something. Where there is no substance, 
there can be no accident. This corporeal globe, and everything 
upon it, belongs to its present corporeal inhabitants, during 
their generation. They alone have the right to direct what is 
the concern of themselves alone, and to declare the law of that 
direction; and this declaration can only be made by their ma- 
jority. That majority, then, has a right to depute representa- 
tives to a convention, and to make the Constitution what they 
think will be the best for themselves. (To Samuel Kercheval, 
1816. C. VII., 14-16.) 

The Constitution. — The radical idea of the character of the 
Constitution of our government, which I have adopted as a key 
in cases of doubtful construction, is, that the whole field of 
government is divided into two departments, domestic and for- 
eign (the States in their mutual relations being of the latter); 
that the former department is reserved exclusively to the re- 
spective States within their own limits, and the latter assigned 
to a separate set of functionaries, constituting what may be 
called the foreign branch, which, instead of a Federal basis, is 
established as a distinct government quoad hoc, acting as the 
domestic branch does on the citizens directly and coercively; 
that these departments have distinct directories, co-ordinate, 
and equally independent and supreme, each within its own 
sphere of action. Whenever a doubt arises to which of these 
branches a power belongs, I try it by this test. I recollect no 
case where a question simply between citizens of the same State, 
has been transferred to the foreign department, except that of 
inhibiting tenders but of metallic money, and ex post facto 
legislation. The causes of these singularities are well remicm- 
bered. (To Edward Livingston, 1824. C. VII., 342.) 

Constitutionality. — Whether the judges are invested with 
exclusive authority to decide on the Constitutionality of a law, 
has been heretofore a subject of consideration with me in the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 175 

exercise of official duties. Certainly thcr-e is not a word in the 
Constitution which has given that power to them more than to 
the executive or legislative branches. Questions of property, of 
character and of crime being ascribed to the Judges, through 
a definite course of legal proceeding, laws involving such ques- 
tions belong, of course, to them; and as they decide on them 
ultimately and without appeal, they, of course, decide for them- 
selves. The Constitutional validity of the law or laws again 
prescribing executive action, and to be administered by that 
branch ultimately and without appeal, the Executive must de- 
cide for themselves also, whether, under the Constitution, they 
are valid or not. So also as to laws governing the proceedings 
of the legislature, that body must judge for itself the constitu- 
tionality of the law, and equally w^ithout appeal or control from 
its co-ordinate branches. And, in general, that branch which 
is to act ultimately, and without appeal, on any law, is the 
rightful expositor of the validity of the law, uncontrolled by 
the opinions of the other co-ordinate authorities. (To W. H. 
Torrance, 1815. C. VI., 461.) 

Constitutions. — No society can make a perpetual Constitu- 
tion or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the 
living generation. Tliey may manage it then, and what pro- 
ceeds from it, as they please during their usufruct. They are 
masters, too, of their own persons, and consequently may gov- 
ern them as they please. But persons and property make the 
sum of the objects of government. The Constitution and laws 
of their predecessors extinguished them, in their natural course, 
with those whose will gave them being. This could preserve 
that being till it ceased to be itself, and no longer. Every 
Constitution, then, and every law, naturally expires at the end 
of nineteen years. If it be enforced longer, it is an act of force 
and not of right. 

It may be said that the succeeding generations exercising in 
fact the power of repeal, this leaves them as free as if the Con- 
stitution or law had been expressly limited to nineteen years 
only. In the first place, this objection admits the right, in pro- 
posing an equivalent. It might be indeed if every form of gov- 



176 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

eminent were so perfectly contrived that the will of the majority 
could always be obtained fairly and without impediment. But 
this is true of no form. The people cannot assemble themselves; 
their representation is unequal and vicious. Various checks are 
opposed to every legislative proposition. Factions get posses- 
sion of the public councils. Bribery corrupts them. Personal 
interests lead them astray from the general interests of their 
constituents; and other impediments arise so as to prove to 
every practical man that a law of limited duration is much more 
manageable than one which needs a repeal. (Written to James 
Madison from Paris, 1789. F. V., 121.) 

Constitutions. — However, it is still certain that the written 
Constitutions may be violated in moments of passion or delu- 
sion, yet they furnish a text to which those who are watchful 
may again rally and recall the people; they fix too for the people 
the principles of their political creed. (To Joseph Priestly, 1802. 

F. VIII., 159.) 

Consuls. — The law of nations does not of itself extend to 
consuls at all. They are not of the diplomatic class of charac- 
ters, to which alone that law extends of right. Convention in- 
deed may give it to them, and sometimes has done so; but in 
that case the convention can be produced. In ours with France, 
it is expressly declared that consuls shall have the privilege of 
that law, and we have no convention with any other nation. 
* * * Independent of law, consuls are to be considered as 
distinguished foreigners, dignified by a commission from their 
sovereign and especially recommended by him to the respect of 
the nations with whom they reside. They are subject to the 
laws of the land, indeed, precisely as other foreigners are, a 
convention where there is one making part of the law of the 
land; but if at any time, their conduct should render it neces- 
sary to arrest the authority of the laws over them, the rigor 
of those laws should be tempered by our respect for their 
sovereign as far as the case will admit. This moderate and 
respectful treatment towards foreign consuls, it is my duty to 
recommend and press on our citizens, because I ask it for their 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 177 

good towards our own consuls, from the people with whom 
they reside. (To T. Newton, 1791. C. III., 295.) 

Contraband. — It may be objected that this proves too much, 
as it proves you cannot enter the ship of a friend to search 
for contraband of war. But this is not proving too much. We 
believe the practice of seizing what is called contraband of war, 
is an abusive practice, not founded in natural right. War be- 
tween two nations cannot diminish the rights of the rest of the 
world remaining at peace. The doctrine that the rights of 
nations remaining quietly under the exercise of moral and social 
duties, are to give way to the convenience of those who prefer 
plundering and murdering one another, is a monstrous doctrine; 
and ought to yield to the more rational law, that "the wrongs 
which two nations endeavor to inflict on each other, must not 
infringe on the rights or conveniences of those remaining at 
peace." And what is contraband, by the law of nature? Either 
everything which may aid or comfort an enemy, or nothing. 
Either all commerce which would accommodate him is un- 
lawful, or none is. The difference between articles of one or 
another description, is a difTerence in degree only. No line be- 
tween them can be drawn. Either all intercourse must cease 
between neutrals and belligerents, or all be permitted. Can the 
world hesitate^to say which shall be the rule? Shall two nations 
turning tigers, break up in one instant the peaceable relations 
of the W'hole w^orld? Reason and nature clearly pronounce 
that the neutral is to go on in the enjoyment of all its rights, 
that its commerce remains free, not subject to the jurisdiction 
of another, nor consequently its vessels to search, or to enquiries 
whether their contents are the property of an enemy, or are 
those which have been called contraband of war, (To the United 
States Minister to France, 1801. F. VIII., 90.) 

Controversy. — But in stating prudential rules for our gov- 
ernment in society, I must not omit the important one of never 
entering into a dispute or argument with another. I never saw^ an 
instance of one of twro disputants convincing the other by argu- 
ment. I have seen many, on their getting warm, becoming 
rude, and shooting one another. Conviction is the effect of our 



I/S THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

own dispassionate reasoning, either in solitude, or weighing 
within ourselves, dispassionately, what we hear from others, 
standing unconvicted in argument ourselves. It was one of the 
rules which, above all others, made Dr. Franklin the most amia- 
ble of men in society, "Never to contradict anybody." If he 
was urged to announce an opinion he did it rather by asking 
questions, as if for information or by suggesting doubts. When 
I hear another express an opinion which is not mine, I say to 
myself, he has a right to his opinion, as I to mine; why should 
I question it? His error does me no injury, and shall I be- 
come a Don Quixote to bring all men by force of argument 
to one opinion? If a fact be misstated, it is probable he is 
gratified by the belief of it, and I have no right to deprive him 
of the gratification. If he wants reformation he will ask it, and 
then I will give it in measured terms; but if he still belieyes 
his own story, and shows a desire to dispute the fact with me, I 
hear him and say nothing. It is his affair, not mine, if he 
prefers error. 

There are two classes of disputants most frequently to be met 
with among us. The first is of young students, just entered the 
threshold of science, with a first view of its outlines, not yet 
filled up with the details and modifications which a further 
progress would bring to their knowledge. The other consists 
of the ill-tempered and rude men in society, who have taken up 
a passion for politics. (Good humor and politeness never intro- 
duce into a mixed society a question on which they foresee 
there will be a difference of opinion.) From both of these 
classes of disputants, my dear Jefferson, keep aloof as you would 
from the infected subjects of yellow fever or pestilence. Con- 
sider yourself when with them as among the patients of Bedlam, 
needing medical more than moral counsel. Be a listener only, 
keep within yourself, and endeavor to establish with yourself 
the habit of silence, especially in politics. In the fevered state 
of our country no good can ever result from any attempt to 
set one of these fiery zealots to rights, either in fact or principle. 
They are determined as to the facts they will believe and the 
opinions on which they will act. Get by them, therefore, as 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 179 

you would by an angry bull; it is not for a man of sense to 
dispute the road with such an animal. (To T. J. Randolph, 
1808. C. v., 390.) 

Corporations. — The Senate received yesterday a bill from 
the representatives incorporating a company for Roosevelt's 
copper mines in Jersey. This is under the sweeping clause of 
the Constitution, and supported by the following pedigree of 
necessities. Congresses are authorized to defend the country; 
ships are necessary for that defense; copper is necessary for 
ships; mines are necessary to produce copper; companies are 
necessary to work mines: and "this is the house that Jack 
built." (To R. Livingston, 1800. F. VII., 446.) 

Corporations. — It has always been denied by the Republican 
[Democratic] party in this country that the Constitution had 
given the power of incorporation to Congress. On the estab- 
lishment of the bank of the United States, this was the great 
ground on which that establishment was combated; and the 
party prevailing supported it only on the argument of its being 
an incident to the power given them for raising money. On 
this ground it has been acquiesced in, and will probably be 
again acquiesced in as subsequently confirmed by public opinion. 
But in no other instance have they ever exercised the power 
of incorporation out of this district, of which they are the 
ordinary legislature. (To Dr. Mease, 1809. C. V., 412.) 

Corporations.' — It ends as might have been expected in the 
ruin of its (England's) people, but this ruin will fall heaviest, 
as it ought to fall, on that hereditary aristocracy. * * * j 
hope we shall take warning from the example of England and 
crush in its birth the aristocracy of our moneyed corporations 
which dare already to challenge our Government to trial, and 
bid defiance to the laws of our country. (To George Logan, 
1816. F. X., 69.) 

Correspondence. — A right of a free correspondence between 
citizen and citizen on their joint interests, whether public or 
private and under whatsoever laws these interests arise (to wit, 
of the State, of Congress, of France, Spain or Turkey), is a 
natural right, it is not the gift of any municipal law either of 



l8o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

England, or Virginia, or of Congress; but in common with all 
our other natural rights is one of the objects for the protection 
of which society is formed and municipal laws established. 
(To James Monroe, 1797. F. VII., 172.) 

Counsel. — I have placed my happiness on seeing you good 
and accomplished; and no distress this world can now bring 
on me would equal that of disappointing my hopes. If you 
love me, then strive to be good under every situation and to 
all living creatures, and to acquire those accompHshments 
which I have put in your power. (From a letter to his daughter, 
1782. F. III., 346.) 

Counsel. — Time now begins to be precious to you. Every 
day you lose will retard a day your entrance on that public stage 
whereon you may begin to be useful to yourself. However, the 
way to repair the loss is to improve the future time. I trust, 
that with your disposition, even the acquisition of science is a 
pleasing employment. I can assure you, that the possession of 
it is, what (next to an honest heart) will above all things render 
you dear to your friends, and give you fame and promotion in 
your own country. When your mind shall be well improved 
with science, nothing will be necessary to place you in the 
highest point of view but to pursue the interests of your coun- 
try, the interests of your friends, and your own interests also, 
with the purest integrity, the most chaste honor. The defect 
of these virtues can never be made up by all the other acquire- 
ments of body and mind. Make these your first object. Give 
up money, give up fame, give up science, give the earth and all 
it contains, rather than do an immoral act. And never sup- 
pose, that in any possible situation, or under any circumstances, 
it is best for you to do a dishonorable thing, however slightly 
so it may appear to you. Whenever you are to do a thing, 
though it can never be known but to yourself, ask yourself how 
you would act were all the world looking at you, and act 
accordingly. Encourage all your virtuous dispositions, and 
exercise them whenever the opportunity arises; being assured 
that they will gain strength by exercise, as a limb of the body 
does, and that exercise will make them habitual. From the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON l8l 

practice of the purest virtue, you may be assured you will 
derive the most sublime comforts in every moment of life, and 
in the moment of death. If ever you find yourself environed 
with difficulties and perplexing circumstances, out of which 
you are at a loss how to extricate yourself, do what is right, 
and be assured that that will extricate you the best out of the 
worst situations. Though you cannot see, when you take one 
step, what will be the next, yet follow truth, justice, and plain 
dealing, and never fear their leading you out of the labyrinth, 
in the easiest manner possible. The knot which you thought a 
Gordian one, will untie itself before you. Nothing is so mis- 
taken as the supposition, that a person is to extricate himself 
from a difficulty by intrigue, by chicanery, by dissimulation, 
by trimming, by an untruth, by an injustice. This increases the 
difficulties tenfold; and those who pursue these methods get 
themselves so involved at length, that they can turn no way 
but their infamy becomes more exposed. It is of great im- 
portance to set a resolution, not to be shaken, never to tell an 
untruth. There is no vice so mean, so pitiful, so contemptible; 
and he who permits himself to tell a lie once, finds it much easier 
to do it a second and third time, till at length it becomes 
habitual; he tells lies without attending to it, and truths with- 
out the world's believing him. This falsehood of the tongue 
leads to that of the heart, and in time depraves all its good 
dispositions. (To Peter Carr, a nephew, 1785. C. I., 395.) 

Counsel. — I hope you are a very good girl, that you love 
your uncle and aunt very much, and are very thankful to them 
for all their goodness to you; that you never suffer yourself to 
be angry with anybody, that you give your playthings to those 
who want them, that you do whatever anybody desires of you 
that is right, that you never tell stories, never beg for anything, 
mind your books and your work when your aunt tells you, 
never play but when she permits you, nor go when she forbids 
you; remember, too, as a constant charge not to go out with- 
out your bonnet, because it will make you very ugly, and then 
we shall not love you so much. (From a letter written to his 
daughter Mary, aged seven, 1785. F. IV., 98.) 



l82 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Counsel. — This letter will, to you, be as one from the dead. 
The writer will be in the grave before you can weigh its counsels. 
Your affectionate and excellent father has requested that I 
would address to you something which might possibly have a 
favorable influence on the course of life you have to run, and I, 
too, as a namesake, feel an interest in that course. Few words 
will be necessary, with good dispositions on your part. Adore 
God. Reverence and cherish your parents. Love your neighbor 
as yourself. Be just. Be true. Murmur not at the ways of 
Providence. So shall the life into which you have entered, be 
the portal to one of eternal and ineffable bliss. (To Thomas 
Jefferson Smith, 1825. C. VII., 401.) 

Creation. — I give one answer to all theorists — that is as fol- 
lows: They all suppose the earth a created existence; they 
must suppose a Creator, then, and that he possessed power 
and wisdom to a great degree. As he intended the earth for the 
habitation of animals and vegetables, is it reasonable to sup- 
pose he made two jobs of the creation? That he first made a 
chaotic lump and set it in motion, and then, waiting ages neces- 
sary to form itself — that when it had done this he stepped in a 
second time to create the animals and plants which were to 
inhabit it? As a hand of a Creator is to be called in it may as 
w^ell be called in at one stage of the process as another. We 
may as well suppose he created the earth at once nearly in the 
state in which we see it. (To Charles Thompson, written in 
Paris, 1786. F. IV., 338.) 

Credit. — I own it to be my opinion that good will arise from 
destruction of our credit. I see nothing else which can restrain 
our disposition to luxury, and the loss of these manners which 
alone can preserve Republican government. As it is impossible 
to prevent credit, the best way would be to cure its ill effects 
by giving an instantaneous recovery to the creditor; this would 
be reducing purchases on credit to purchases for ready money. 
A man would then see a poison painted on everything he wished 
but had not ready money to pay for it. (From a letter written 
in Paris to Archibald Stuart, 1786. F. IV., 188.) 

Credit. — Among the many good qualities which my country- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 183 

men possess some of a different character mix themselves. The 
most remarkable are indolence, extravagance and infidelity. 
Cure the first two and the last would disappear, because it is a 
consequence of them and not proceeding from a want of morals. 
I know of no remedy against indolence and extravagance but 
a free course of justice unobstructed. The maxim of buying 
nothing without the money in our pocket would make of our 
country one of the happiest upon earth. * * * Desperate 
of finding relief from a free course of justice, I look forward 
to the abolition of all credit as the only other remedy which 
can take place. I have seen, therefore, the pleasure the exag- 
gerations of our want of faith with which the London papers 
teem. It is indeed a strong medicine for sensible minds, but it 
is a medicine. It will prevent their crediting us abroad, in 
which case we cannot be credited at home. (From a letter to 
A. Donald, written from Paris, 1787. F. IV., 414.) 

Crimes and Punishments. — In forming a scale of crimes and 
punishments, two considerations have considerable weight, i. 
The atrocity of the crime. 2. The peculiar circumstances of a 
country which furnish greater temptations to commit it, or 
greater facilities for escaping detection. The punishment must 
be heavier to counterbalance this. Was the first the only 
consideration, all nations would form the same scale. But as the 
circumstances of a countiy have influence on the punishment, 
and no two countries exist precisely under the same circum- 
stances, no two countries will form the same scale of crimes 
and punishments. For example, in America the inhabitants 
let their horses go at large in the uninclosed lands which are 
so extensive as to maintain them altogether. It is easy, there- 
fore, to steal them and easy to escape. Therefore, the laws are 
obliged to oppose these temptations with a heavier degree of 
punishment. For this reason the stealing of a horse in America 
is punished more severely than stealing the same value in any 
other form. In Europe, w^here horses are confined so securely 
that it is impossible to steal them, that species of theft need 
not be punished more severely than any other. In some coun- 
tries of Europe, stealing fruit from trees is punished capitally. 



l84 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Tliis to an unreflecting American appears the most enormous 
of all the abuses of power; because he has been used to see 
fruit hanging in such quantities, that if not taken by men they 
would rot. (From observations on the article "United States," 
prepared for the Encyclopedia, 1786. F. IV., 170.) 

Criminals. — And the wretched criminal, if he happen to have 
offended on the American side, stripped of his privilege of trial 
by peers of his vicinage, removed from the place where alone full 
evidence could be obtained, without money, without counsel, 
without friends, without exculpatory proof, is tried before 
judges predetermined to condemn. The cowards who would 
suffer a countryman to be torn from the bowels of their society, 
in order to be thus offered a sacrifice to parliamentary tyranny, 
would merit the everlasting infamy now fixed on the authors of 
the act. (An Act for the Suppression of Riots in the Town of 
Boston, 14th George III.). (From a "Summary View," 1774. 
F. I., 439-) 

Criminals. — A member of society, committing an inferior 
injury, does not wholly forfeit the protection of his fellow citi- 
zens, but after suffering a punishment in proportion to his 
offence, is entitled to their protection from all greater pain, so 
that it becomes a duty to the Legislature to arrange in a proper 
scale the crimes which it may be necessary for them to repress, 
and to adjust thereto a corresponding gradation of punishment. 
(From a bill relating to crimes and punishments, 1779. F. IL, 
204.) 

Criminals. — The reformation of offenders, though an object 
worthy of the attention of the laws, is not effected at all by 
capital punishments which exterminate instead of reforming, 
and should be the last melancholy resource against those whose 
existence is become inconsistent with the safety of their fellow- 
citizens; which also weaken the State by cutting off so' many, 
who, if reformed, might be restored sound members of society, 
who even under a course of correction, might be rendered useful 
m various labors for the public, and would be living and long- 
continued spectacles to deter others from committing like 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 185 

offenses. (From a bill relating to crimes and punishments, 
1779. F. II., 204.) 

Cuba. — But, although with difficulty, he (Bonaparte) will 
consent to our receiving Cuba into our Union, to prevent our 
aid to Mexico and the other provinces. That would be a price 
and I would immediately erect a column on the southernmost 
limit of Cuba, and inscribe on it a ne plus ultra as to us in that 
direction. We should then have only to include the north in our 
Confederacy, which would be of course in the first war and we 
should have such an empire for liberty as she has never sur- 
veyed since creation; and I am persuaded no Constitution was 
ever before so well calculated as ours for extensive empire and 
self-government. * * * j^- Y^rjn i^g objected to our receiv- 
ing Cuba that no limit can be drawn to our future acquisitions. 
Cuba can be defended by us without a navy, and thus develop 
the principle which ought to limit our views. Nothing should 
ever be accepted which would require a navy to defend it. (To 
James Madison, 1809. C. V., 444.) 

Cuba. — Do we wish to acquire to our own Confederacy any 
one or more of the Spanish provinces? I candidly confess, that 
I have ever looked on Cuba as the most interesting addition 
which could ever be made to our system of States. The control 
which, with Florida Point, this island would give us over the 
Gulf of Mexico, and the countries and isthmus bordering on it, 
as well as all those whose waters flow into it, would fill up the 
measure of our political well-being. Yet, as I am sensible that 
this can never be obtained, even with her own consent, but by 
war; and its independence, which is our second interest (and 
especially its independence of England), can be secured without 
it. I have no hesitation in abandoning my first wish to future 
chances, and accepting its independence, with peace and the 
friendship of England, rather than its association, at the expense 
of war and her enmity. (To James Monroe, 1823. C. VII., 

316.) 

Cuba. — Cuba alone seems at present to hold up a speck of 
war to us. Its possession by Great Britain would indeed be a 
great calamity to us. Could we induce her to join us in guar- 



l86 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

anteeing its independence against all the world, except Spain, it 
would be nearly as valuable to us as if it were our own. But 
should she take it, I would not immediately go to war for it; 
because the first war on other accounts will give it to us; or the 
island will give itself to us, when able to do so. (To James 
Monroe, 1823. C VII., 288.) 

Debt. — Whether one generation of men has a right to bind 
another is a question of such consequence as not only to merit 
decision, but place also, among the fundamental principles of 
every government. That no such obligation can be transmitted 
I think very capable of proof. I set out on this ground which I 
suppose to be self-evident: that the earth belongs in usufruct 
to the living, that the dead have neither right nor power over it. 
The portion occupied by any individual ceases to be his when 
himself ceases to be, and reverts to the society. If the society 
has formed no rules for the appropriation of its lands in sever- 
alty, it will be taken by the first occupants. These will generally 
be the wife and children of the decedent. If they have formed 
rules of appropriation, those rules may give it to the wife and 
children, or to some of them, or to the legatee of the deceased. 
So they may give it to his creditors. But the child, the legatee 
or creditor take it, not by any natural right, but by a law of the 
society of which they are members, and to which they are sub- 
ject. Then no man can by natural right oblige the lands he 
occupied, or the persons who' succeed him in that occupation, 
to the payment of debts contracted by him. For if he could, 
he might during his own life eat up the usufruct of the lands for 
several generations to come, and then the lands would belong tO' 
the dead and not to the living which is the reverse of the prin- 
ciple. What is true of every member of the society individually, 
is true of them all collectively, since the rights of the whole 
can be no more than the sum of the rights of individuals. Then 
no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid 
during the course of its own existence. * * * Nineteen 
years is the term beyond which neither the representatives of a 
nation nor even the whole nation itself, can validly extend a 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 187 

debt. (Written to James Madison from Paris, 1789. F. V., 
116.) 

Debt, National. — We are ruined, Sir, if we do not overrule 
the principles that "the more we owe, the more prosperous we 
shall be," that a public debt furnishes the means of enter- 
prise, that if ours should be once paid off, we should incur 
another by any means however extravagant, etc. (From a letter 
to James Madison, 1791. F. V., 320.) 

Debt, Public. — There can never be a fear but that the paper 
which represents the public debt will be ever sacredly good. The 
public faith is bound for this, and no change of system will ever 
be permitted to touch this. The evidences of the public debt 
are solid and sacred. I presume there is not a man in the 
United States who would not part with his last shilling to pay 
them. (To William Short, 1792. F. V., 460.) 

Debt, Public. — A further assumption of State debts has been 
proposed by the Secretary of the Treasury, which has been 
rejected by a small majority: but the chickens of the treasury 
have so many contrivances and are so indefatigable within doors 
and without, that we all fear that they will get it in yet some 
way or other. As the doctrine is that a public debt is a public 
blessing, so they think a perpetual one is a perpetual blessing 
and therefore wish to make it so large that we can never pay it 
off. (To Nicholas Lewis, 1792. F. V., 505.) 

Debt, Public. — My whole correspondence while in France, 
and every word and letter and act on the subject since my 
return prove that no man is more ardently intent to see the 
public debt soon and sacredly paid off than I am. This exactly 
marks the difference between Colonel Hamilton's views and 
mine, that I would wish the debt paid to-morrow; he wishes it 
never to be paid, but always to be a thing wherewith to corrupt 
and manage the Legislature. (To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 

I05-) 
Debt, Public. — I consider the fortunes of our republic as 

depending, in an imminent degree, on the extinguishment of 

the public debt before we engage in any war; because, that 

done, we shall have revenue enough to improve our country 



l88 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

in peace and defend it in war without recurring to new taxes or 
loans. But if the debt should once more be swelled to a for- 
midable size, its entire discharge will be despaired of, and we 
shall be committed to the English career of debt, corruption 
and rottenness, closing with revolution. The discharge of the 
debt, therefore, is vital to the destinies of our government. (To 
Albert Gallatin, 1809. C. V., 477.) 

Debt, Public. — It is a wise rule, and should be fundamental 
in a government disposed to cherish its credit, and at the same 
time to restrain the use of it within the limits of its faculties, 
"never to borrow a dollar without laying a tax in the same 
instant for paying the interest annually, and the principal within 
a given term; and to consider that tax as pledged to the 
creditors on the public faith." On such a pledge as this, 
sacredly observed, a government may always command, on a 
reasonable interest, all the lendable money of its citizens, 
while the necessity of an equivalent tax is a salutary warning to 
them and their constituents against oppressions, bankruptcy, 
and its inevitable consequence, revolution. But the term of 
redemption must be moderate, and at any rate within the limits 
of their rightful powers. But what limits, it will be asked, does 
this prescribe to their powers? What is to hinder them from 
creating a perpetual debt? The law^s of nature, I answer. The 
earth belongs to the living, not to the dead. The will and the 
power of man expire with his life, by nature's law. Some 
societies give it an artificial continuance, for the encouragement 
of industry; some refuse it, as our aboriginal neighbors, whom 
we call barbarians. The generations of men may be considered 
as bodies or corporations. Each generation has the usufruct 
of the earth during the period of its continuance. When it 
ceases to exist, the usufruct passes on to the succeeding genera- 
tion, free and unencumbered, and so on, successively, from one 
generation to another forever. We may consider each genera- 
tion as a distinct nation, with a right, by the wih of its majority, 
to bind themselves, but none to bind the succeeding generation, 
more than the inhabitants of another country. Or the case 
may be likened to the ordinar}^ one of a tenant for life, who 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 189 

may hypothecate the land for his debts, during the continuance 
of his usufruct; but at his death, the reversioner (who is also 
for life only) receives it exonerated from all burthen. Tlie 
period of a generation, or the term of its life, is determined by 
the laws of mortality, which, varying a little only in different 
climates, offer a general average, to be found by observation. 
I turn, for instance, to Bufifon's tables, of twenty-three thousand 
nine hundred and ninety-four deaths, and the ages at which 
they happened, and I find that of the numbers of all ages living 
at one moment, half will be dead in twenty-four years and eight 
months. But (leaving out minors, who have not the power of 
self-government) of the adults (of twenty-one years of age) liv- 
ing at one moment, a majority of whom act for the society, one- 
half will be dead in eighteen years and eight months. At nine- 
teen years then from the date of a contract, the majority of the 
contractors are dead, and their contract w'ith them. Let this 
general theory be applied to a particular case. Suppose the 
annual births of the State of New York to be twenty-three thou- 
sand nine hundred and ninety-four, the whole number of its 
inhabitants, according to Buffon, wnll be six hundred and seven- 
teen thousand seven hundred and three, of all ages. Of these 
there would constantly be two hundred and sixty-nine thousand 
two hundred and eighty-six minors, and three hundred and 
forty-eight thousand four hundred and seventeen adults, of 
which last, one hundred and seventy-four thousand two hun- 
dred and nine will be a majority. Suppose that majority, on 
the first day of the year 1794, had borrowed a sum of money 
equal to the fee-simple value of the State, and to have consumed 
it in eating and drinking and making merry in their day; or, 
if you please, in quarreling and fighting with their unoffending 
neighbors. Within eighteen years and eight months, one-half 
of the adult citizens were dead. Till then, being the majority, 
they might rightfully levy the interest of their debt annually 
on themselves and their fellow-revellers, or fellow-champions. 
But, at that period, say at this moment, a new majority have 
come into place, in their own right, and not under the rights, 
the conditions, or laws of their predecessors. Are they bound 



190 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to acknowledge the debt, to consider the preceding generation 
as having had a right to eat up the whole soil of their country, 
in the course of a life, to alienate it from them (for it would be 
an alienation to the creditors), and would they think themselves 
either legally or morally bound to give up their country and 
emigrate to another for subsistence? Every one will say no; 
that the soil is the gift of God to the living, as much as it had 
been to the deceased generation; and that the laws of nature 
impose no obligation on them to pay this debt. And although, 
like some other natural rights, this has not yet entered into any 
declaration of rights, it is no less a law, and ought to be acted on 
by honest governments. It is, at the same time, a salutary 
curb on the spirit of war and indebtment, which, since the 
modern theory of the perpetuation of debt, has drenched the 
earth with blood, and crushed its inhabitants under burthens 
ever accumulating. Had this principle been declared in the 
British bill of rights, England would have been placed under 
the happy disability of waging eternal war, and of contracting 
her thousand millions of public debt. In seeking, then, for an 
ultimate term for the redemption of our debts, let us rally to 
this principle, and provide for their payment within the term of 
nineteen years at the farthest. (To J. W. Eppes, 1813. C. VL, 
136-138.) 

Democracy. — The influence over government must be shared 
by all the people. If every individual which composes their mass 
participates of the ultimate authority, the government will be 
safe; because the corrupting the whole mass will exceed any 
private resources of wealth ; and public ones cannot be provided 
but by levies on the whole people. In this case every man 
would have to pay his own price. * * * Jt has been 
thought that corruption is restrained by confining the right of 
suffrage to a few of the wealthier people; but it would be more 
effectually restrained by an extension of that right to such 
numbers as would bid defiance to means of corruption, (From 
"Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 255.) 

Democracy. — There is a snail-paced gait for the advance of 
new ideas in the general mind, under which we must acquiesce. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 19I 

A forty years' experience of popular assemblies has taught me 
that you must give them time for every step they take. If too 
hard pushed they balk, and the machine retrogrades. (To Joel 
Barlow, 1807. C. V., 217.) 

Democracy. — We of the United States, you know, are con- 
stitutionally and conscientiously Democrats. We consider 
society as one of the natural wants with which man has been 
created; that he has been endowed with faculties and qualities 
to effect its satisfaction by occurrence of others having the same 
want; that when, by the exercise of these faculties, he has pro- 
cured a state of society, it is one of his acquisitions which he 
has a right to regulate and control, jointly indeed with all those 
who have concurred in the procurement, whom he cannot ex- 
clude from its use or direction more than they him. We think 
experience has proved it safer, for the mass of individuals com- 
posing the society, to reserve to themselves personally the 
exercise of all rightful powers to which they are competent, and 
to delegate those to which they are not competent to deputies 
named, and removable for unfaithful conduct, by themselves 
immediately. Hence, with us, the people (by which is meant the 
mass of individuals composing the society) being competent to 
judge of the facts occurring in ordinary life, they have retained 
the functions to judges of facts, under the name .of jurors; but 
being unqualified for the management of affairs requiring intelli- 
gence above the common level, yet competent judges of human 
character, they chose, for their management, representatives, 
some by themselves immediately, others by electors chosen by 
themselves. Thus our President is chosen by ourselves, directly 
in practice, for we vote for A as elector only on the condition 
he will vote for B, our representative by ourselves immediately, 
our Senate and judges of law through electors chosen by our- 
selves. And we believe that this proximate choice and power 
of removal is the best security which experience has sanctioned 
for ensuring an honest conduct in the functionaries of society. 
(To Dupont de Nemours, 1816. C. VI., 589.) 

Democracy. — The introduction of this new principle of repre- 
sentative Democracy has rendered useless almost everything 



192 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

written before on the structure of government ; and, in a great 
measure, relieves our regret, if the poHtical writings of Aristotle, 
or of any other ancient, have been lost, or are unfaithfully ren- 
dered or explained to us. My most earnest wish is to see the 
Republican element of popular control pushed to the maximum 
of its practicable exercise. I shall then believe that our Gov- 
ernment may be pure and perpetual. (To Isaac H. Tiffany, 
1816. C. VII., 32.) 

Device. — A proper device (instead of arms) for the American 
States would be the father presenting the bundle of rods to 
his son, with the motto, 

"Insuperabilcs si inseparahiles" 
(Proposed arms for the United States, interesting as being the 
earliest reference to the ''American States." Written in Jeffer- 
son's copy of the Virginia Almanac for 1774.) 

Dissension. — Political dissension is doubtless a less evil than 
the lethargy of despotism, but still it is a great evil, and it would 
be as worthy the efforts of the patriot as of the philosopher to 
exclude its influence if possible from social life. The good are 
rare enough at best. There is no reason to sub-divide them by 
artificial lines. But whether we shall ever be able to perfect 
the principles of society as that political opinions shall be as 
inoffensive as those of philosophy, mechanics, or any other may 
well be doubted. (From a letter to Thomas Pinckney, 1792. 
F. VII., 128.) 

Disunion, danger of. — I can scarcely contemplate a more 
incalculable evil than the breaking of the Union into two or 
more parts. Yet when we review the mass which opposed the 
original coalescence, when we consider that it lay chiefly in the 
Southern quarter, that the Legislature have availed themselves 
of no occasion of allaying it, whenever Northern and Southern 
prejudices have come into conflict, the latter have been sacri- 
ficed and the former soothed; that the owners of the debt are 
in the Southern and the holders of it in the Northern division; 
that the anti-federal champions are now strengthened in argu- 
ment by the fulfilment of their predictions, that this has been 
brought about by the Monarchical Federalists themselves, who, 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 193 

having been for the new government merely as a stepping stone 
to monarchy, have themselves adopted the very constructions 
of the Constitution of which, when advocating its acceptance 
before the tribunal of the people, they declared it insusceptible: 
that the Republican Federalists, who espoused the same govern- 
ment for its intrinsic merits, are disarmed of their weapons, that 
which they deemed as prophecy being now become true history; 
who can be sure that these things may not proselyte the small 
number which was wanting to place the majority on the other 
side? And this is the event at which I tremble, and to prevent 
which I consider your continuance at the head of affairs as of 
the last importance. The confidence of the whole Union is 
centered in you. Your being at the helm will be more than an 
answer to every argument which can be used to alarm and lead 
the people in any quarter into violence or secession. North 
and South will hang together if they have you to hang on, 
(To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 5.) 

Drunkenness. — I think drunkenness is much more common 
in all the American States than in France. But it is less com- 
mon there than in England. You may form an idea from this 
of the state of it in America. (Written from Paris, 1786. F. 
IV., 282.) 

Duelling. — Whosoever committeth murder by way of duel, 
shall suffer death by hanging; and if he were the challenger, 
his body after death, shall be gibbetted. (From a bill relating; 
to crimes and punishments, 1779. F. II., 207.) 

Duties. — I am much pleased to see that you have taken up 
the subject of the duty on imported books. I hope a crusade will 
be kept up against it, until those in power shall become sensible 
of this stain on our legislation, and shall wipe it from their 
code and from the remembrance of men, if possible. (To Jared 
Sparks, 1824. C. VII., 335.) 

Economy. — When we consider that this government is 
charged with the external and mutual relations only of these 
States; that the States themselves have principal care of persons, 
our property, and our reputation, constituting the great field 
of human concerns, we may well doubt whether our orgaiiiza- 



194 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

tion is not too complicated, too expensive; whether offices or 
officers have not been multiplied unnecessarily, and sometimes 
injuriously to the service they were meant to promote. I 
will cause to be laid before you an essay toward a statement 
of those who, under public employment of various kinds, drew 
money from the treasury or from our citizens. Time has not 
permitted a perfect enumeration, the ramifications of office be- 
ing too multiplied and remote to be completely traced in a first 
trial. Among those who are dependent on executive discre- 
tion, I have begun the reduction of what was deemed necessary. 
The expenses of diplomatic agency have been considerably di- 
minished. The inspectors of internal revenue who were found 
to obstruct the accountability of the institution, have been 
discontinued. Several agencies created by executive authority, 
on salaries fixed by that also, have been suppressed, and should 
suggest the expediency of regulating that power by law, so as 
to subject its exercises tO' legislative inspection and sanction. 
* * * Considering the general tendency to multiply offices 
and dependencies, and to increase expense to the ultimate term 
of burden which the citizen can bear, it behooves us to avail 
ourselves of every occasion which presents itself for taking off 
the surcharge; that it may never be seen here that, after leaving 
to labor the smallest portion of its earnings on which it can sub- 
sist, Government shall itself consume the residue of what it 
was instituted to guard. (From first Annual Message, 1801. 
F. VIII., 120.) 

Education. — At every of these schools, district or hundred, 
shall be taught reading, writing, and common arithmetic, and 
the books which shall be used therein for instructing the chil- 
dren to read shall be such as will at the same time make them 
acquainted wath Grecian, Roman, English, and American his- 
tory. At these schools all the free children male and female, 
resident within the respective hundred shall be entitled to re- 
ceive tuition gratis, for the term of three years, and as much 
longer, at their private expense, as their parents, guardians, or 
friends shall think proper. (From a bill for the Diffusion of 
Knowledge, 1779. F. II., 223.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 195 

Education. — It is generally true that people will be happiest 
where laws are best administered, and that laws will be wisely 
formed, and honestly administered, in proportion as those who 
form and administer them are wise and honest; whence it be- 
comes expedient for promoting- public happiness that those 
persons, whom nature hath endowed with genius and virtue, 
should be rendered by liberal education worthy to receive, and 
able to guard, the sacred deposit of the rights and liberties of 
their fellow citizens, and that they should be called to that 
charge without regard to wealth, birth or other accidental cir- 
cumstance; but the indigence of the greater number disabling 
them from so educating, at their own expense, those of their 
children whom nature hath fitly formed and disposed to be- 
come useful instruments for the public, it is better that such 
should be sought for and educated at the common expense of all, 
than that the happiness of all should be confined to the weak 
or wicked. (From a bill for the Diffusion of Knowledge, 1779. 
F. II., 221.) 

Education. — Instead, therefore, of putting the Bible and Tes- 
tament into the hands of children at an age when their judgments 
are not sufficiently matured for religious inquiries, their mem- 
ories may here be stored w'ith the most useful facts from 
Grecian, Roman, European, and American history. The first 
element of morality too may be instilled into their minds; such 
as may teach them how to work out their greatest happiness, 
by showing them that it does not depend on the -condition 
of life in which chance has placed them, but is always the result 
of a good conscience, good health, occupation, and freedom in 
all just pursuits. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 

253-) 

Education. — The learning Greek and Latin, I am told, is 
going into disuse in Europe. I know not what their manners 
and occupations may call for; but it would be very ill-judged in 
us to follow their example in this instance. There is a certain 
period of life, say from eight to fifteen or sixteen years of 
age, when the mind, like the body, is not yet firm enough for 
laborious and close operations. * * * 'pj-jg memory is then 



196 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

most susceptible and tenacious of impressions; and the learning 
of languages being chiefly a work of memory, it seems precisely 
fitted to the power of this period, which is long enough, too, 
for acquiring the most useful languages, ancient and modern. 
(From ''Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 253.) 

Education. — By that part of our plan which prescribes the 
selection of the youths of genius from among the classes of the 
poor, we hope to avail the State of those talents which nature 
has sown so liberally among the poor as the rich, but which 
perish without use, if not sought for and cultivated. (From 
"Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 254.) 

Education. — But why send an American youth to Europe 
for education? What are the objects of useful American edu- 
cation? Classical knowledge, modern languages, chiefly French, 
Spanish and Italian, mathematics, natural philosophy, natural 
history, civil history, and ethics. In natural philosophy 
I mean to include chemistry and agriculture, and in natural 
history, to include botany, as well as other branches of these 
departments. It is true that the habit of speaking the modern 
languages cannot be so well acquired in America; but every 
other article can be as well acquired at William and Mary Col- 
lege as at any place in Europe. When college education is done 
with and a young man is to prepare himself for public life, he 
must cast his eyes (for America) either on law or physics. For 
the former where can he apply so advantageously as to Mr. 
Wythe? For the latter he must com.e to Europe; the medical 
class of students, therefore, is the only one which need come to 
Europe. Let us view the disadvantages of sending a youth to 
Europe. To enumerate them all would require a volume. I 
will select a few. If he goes to Europe he learns drinking, 
horse-racing and boxing. These are the peculiarities of English 
education. The following circumstances are common to edu- 
cation in that and the other countries of Europe. He acquires 
a fondness for European luxury and dissipation, and a contempt 
for the simplicity of his own country; he is fascinated with the 
privileges of the European aristocrats, and sees with abhorrence 
the lowly equality which the poor enjoy with the rich in his own 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 197 

country; he contracts a partiality for aristocracy or monarchy; 
he forms foreign friendships which will never be useful to him, 
and loses the seasons of life for forming in his own country those 
friendships which of all others, are the most faithful and perma- 
nent; he is led by the strongest of all human passions into a 
spirit for female intrigue, destructive of his own and others' 
happiness, or a passion for whores, destructive of his health, 
and in both cases, learns to consider fidelity to the marriage 
bed as an ungentlemanly practice and inconsistent with happi- 
ness; he recollects the voluptuary dress and acts of the European 
women, and pities and despises the chaste affections and sim- 
plicity of those of his own country; he retains through life a fond 
recollection and a hankering after those places which were the 
scenes of his first pleasures and of his first connections; he re- 
turns to his own country a foreigner, unacquainted with the 
practices of domestic economy necessary to preserve him from 
ruin, speaking and writing his native tongue as a foreigner and 
therefore unqualified to obtain those distinctions which elo- 
quence of the pen and tongue ensures in a free country; for I 
would observe to you that what is called style in writing or 
speaking is formed very early in life, while the imagination is 
warm and impressions are permanent. I am of the opinion that 
there never was an instance of a man's writing or speaking his 
native tongue with eloquence who passed from fifteen to twenty 
years of age out of the country where it was spoken. Then no 
instance exists of a person writing two languages perfectly. That 
will always appear to be his native language which was most 
familiar to him in his youth. It appears to me, then, that an 
American coming to Europe for education loses in his knowl- 
edge, in his morals, in his health, in his habits and in his happi- 
ness. (To J. Banister, 1785. C. I., 467.) 

Education. — If all the sovereigns of Europe were to set them- 
selves to work to emancipate the minds of their subjects from 
their present ignorance and prejudices, and that as zealously 
as they now endeavor to the contrary, a thousand years would 
not place them on that high ground on which our common 
people are now setting out. Ours could not have been so fairly 



198 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

put into the hands of their own common sense had they not been 
separated from their parent stock and kept from contamination, 
either from them, or the other people of the old world, by the 
intervention of so wide an ocean, I think by far the most im- 
portant bill in our whole code is that for the diffusion of knowl- 
edge among the people. No other sure foundation can be de- 
vised for the preservation of freedom and happiness. * * * 
Preach, my dear sir, a crusade against ignorance; establish and 
improve the law for educating the common people. Let our 
countrymen know that the people alone can protect us against 
those evils, and that the tax which will be paid for this purpose 
is not more than the thousandth part of what wdll be paid to 
kings, priests, and nobles who will rise up among us if we leave 
the people in ignorance. (Written from Paris to George Wythe, 
1786. F. IV.r268.) - 

Education. — The foundations you have laid in languages and 
mathematics are proper for every superstructure. The former 
exercises our memory while that and no other faculty is yet 
matured and prevents our acquiring habits of idleness. The lat- 
ter gives exercise to our reason, as soon as that has acquired a 
certain degree of strength, and stores the mind with truths 
which are useful in other branches of science. At this moment 
then a second order of preparation is to commence. I shall 
propose to you that be extensive, comprehending astronomy, 
natural philosophy (or physics), natural history, anatomy, 
botany and chemistry. No inquisitive mind will be content 
to be ignorant of any of these branches. (To Thomas Mann 
Randolph, Jr., 1786. F. IV., 290.) 

Education. — Above all things I hope the education of the 
common people wdll be attended to; convinced that on their 
good sense we may rely Avith the most security for the preserva- 
tion of a due degree of liberty. (To James Madison, 1787. 
F. IV., 480.) 

Education. — In truth if anything could ever induce me to 
sleep another night out of my own house it would have been 
* * * my solicitude for the education of our youth. I do 
most anxiously wish to see the highest degrees of education 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 199 

given to the highest degrees of genius, and to all degrees of it, 
so much as may enable them to read and understand what is 
going on in the world, and to keep their part of it going on 
right; for nothing can keep it right but their own vigilant and 
distrustful superintendence. (To Mann Page, 1795. F. VII., 
24.) 

Education. — About twenty years ago I drew up a bill for our 
legislature which proposed to lay off every county into hun- 
dreds or townships of five or six miles square in the centre of each 
of which was to be a free English school; the whole State was 
further laid off into ten districts in each of which was to be a 
college for teaching two languages, geography, surveying and 
other useful things of that grade ; and then a single university for 
the sciences. (To Joseph Priestly, 1800. F. VII., 414.) 

Education. — I look to the diffusion of light and education as 
the resource most to be relied on for ameliorating the condi- 
tion, promoting the virtue, and advancing the happiness of man. 
That every man shall be made virtuous, by any process what- 
ever, is, indeed, no more to be expected, than that every tree 
shall be made to bear fruit, and every plant nourishment. The 
brier and the bramble can never become the vine and the olive; 
but their asperities may be softened by culture, and their prop- 
erties improved to usefulness in the order and economy of the 
world. (To C. C. Blatchley, 1822. C. VII., 263.) 

Education. — I am now entirely absorbed in endeavors to 
effect the establishment of a general system of education in my 
native State on the triple basis (i) of elementary schools which 
shall give to the children of every citizen gratis competent 
instruction in reading, writing, common arithmetic and gen- 
eral geography. (2) Collegiate institutions for ancient and 
modern languages, for higher instruction in arithmetic, geog- 
raphy and history, placing for this purpose a college within a 
day's ride of every inhabitant of the State and adding a provision 
for the full education at the public expense of select subjects 
from among the children of the poor who shall have exhibited 
at the elementary schools the most pronounced indication of 
aptness of judgment and correct disposition. (3) An university 



200 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

in which all the branches of science deemed useful at this day 
shall be taught in their highest degree. This would probably 
require ten or twelve professors for most of whom we shall be 
obliged to apply to Europe, and most likely to Edinburg. 
* * * This establishment will most probably be within a 
mile of Charlottesville and four from Monticello if the system 
should be adopted at all by our Legislature who meet within a 
week from this time. My hopes, however, are kept in check by 
the ordinary character of our State Legislature, the members 
of which do not generally possess information enough to per- 
ceive the important truths that knowledge is power, that knowl- 
edge is safety and that knowledge is happiness. (To George 
Tickner, 1817. F. X., 96.) 

Election of President. — I have been above all things solaced 
by the prospect which opened on us in the event of a non- 
election of a President; in which case the Federal Government 
would have been in the situation of a clock or watch run down. 
There was no idea of force, nor of any occasion for it. A con- 
vention invited by the Republican members of Congress with 
the virtual President and Vice-President would have been on the 
ground in eight weeks and would have repaired the Constitution 
where it was defective, and wound it up again. This peaceable 
and legitimate resource, to which we are in the habit of implicit 
obedience superseding all appeal to force and being always 
within our reach, shows a precious principle of self-preservation 
in our composition, till a change of circumstances shall take 
place which is not within prospect of any definite period. (To 
Joseph Priestly, 1801. F, VIIL, 22.) 

Elections, — From a very early period of my life I determined 
never to intermeddle with elections of the people, and have 
invariably adhered to this determination. Tn my own county, 
where there have been so many elections in which my inclina- 
tions were enlisted, I yet never interfered. (From a letter to 
Chas. Clay, 1792. F. VL, iii.) 

Elections, — I proposed soon after coming into office to en- 
join the executive officers from intermeddling with elections 
as inconsistent with the true principles of our Constitution. It 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 201 

was laid over for consideration; but late occurrences prove the 
propriety of it, and it is now under consideration. (To De Witt 
Clinton, 1804. F. VIII. , 322.) 

Elections, Congressional. — On the subject of an election by 
a general ticket, or by districts, most persons here seem to have 
made up their minds. All agree that an election by districts 
would be best, if it could be general; but while ten States choose 
either by their legislatures or by a general ticket, it is folly 
and worse than folly for the other six not to do it. (To James 
Monroe, 1800. F. VII., 401.) 

Emancipation. — I concur entirely in your leading principles 
of gradual emancipation, of establishment on the coast of Africa, 
and the patronage of our Nation until the emigrants shall be 
able to protect themselves. The subordinate detail might be 
easily arranged. But the bare proposition of purchase by the 
United States generally, would excite infinite indignation in 
all the States north of Maryland. The sacrifice must fall on 
the States alone which hold them; and the difficult question 
will be how to lessen this so as to reconcile our fellow citizens 
to it. Personally I am ready and desirous to make any sacrifice 
which shall ensure their gradual but complete retirement from 
the State, and effectually at the same time, establish them else- 
where in freedom and safety. But I have not perceived the 
growth of this disposition in the rising generation, of which 
I once had sanguine hopes. (To Dr. Thomas Humphreys, 18 17. 
C. VII., 57.) 

Emancipation. — See Slavery. 

Embargo. — It is true that the embargo laws have not had all 
the effect in bringing the powers of Europe to a sense of justice 
which a more faithful observance of them might have produced. 
Yet they have had the important effects of saving our seamen 
and property, of giving time to prepare for defense; and they 
will produce the further inestimable advantage of turning the 
attention and enterprise of our fellow citizens, and the patron- 
age of our State Legislatures to the establishment of useful 
manufactures in our countr}^ They will have hastened the day 
when an equilibrium between the occupations of agriculture, 



202 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

manufacture and commerce shall simplify our foreign concerns 
to the exchange only of that surplus which we cannot consume 
for those articles of reasonable comfort or convenience which 
we cannot produce. (To a Democratic Delegation, 1809. C. 
VIII., 163.) 

England. — Our people and merchants must consider their 
business as not yet settled with England. After exercising the 
self-denial which was requisite to carry us through the war they 
must push it a little further to obtain proper peace arrange- 
ments with them. They can do it all the better as all the world 
is open to them; and it is very extraordinary if the whole world 
besides cannot supply them with what they want. I think 
it essential to exclude them from the carriage of American prod- 
uce. (Written from Paris to James Monroe, 1785. F. IV., 
40.) 

England. — In spite of treaties, England is still our enemy. 
Her hatred is deep rooted and cordial, and nothing is wanted 
with her but the power to wipe us and the land we live on out 
of existence. Her interest, however, is her ruling passion; 
and the late American measures have struck at that so vitally, 
and with an energy, too, of which she thought us quite in- 
capable, that a possibility seems to open of forming some ar- 
rangement with her when they shall see decidedly, that, with- 
out it we shall suppress their commerce with us, they will be 
agitated by their avarice, on the one hand, and their hatred 
and their fear of us on the other. The result of this conflict of 
dirty passion is yet to be awaited. The body of people of this 
country love us cordially, but ministers and merchants love 
nobody. The merchants here are endeavoring to exclude us 
from their islands. The ministers will be governed in it by 
political motives, and will do it or not do it, as these shall appear 
to dictate, without love or hatred to anybody. (To John Lang- 
don, 1785. C. I., 429-) 

England. — I returned but three or four days ago from a two 
months trip to England. I traversed that country much, and 
own both town and country fell short of my expectations. Com- 
paring it with this [France] I found a much greater proportion 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 203 

of barrens, a soil in other parts not naturally so good as this, 
nor better cultivated. This proceeds from the practice of long- 
leases there, and short ones here. The laboring people here are 
poorer than in England. They pay but one-half their produce 
in rent, the English in general about a third. The gardening 
in that country is the article in which it surpasses all the earth, 
I mean their pleasure gardening. This indeed went far beyond 
my ideas. The city of London, though handsomer than Paris, 
is not so handsome as Philadelphia. Their architecture is the 
most wretched style I ever saw, not meaning to except America 
where it is bad, nor even Virginia where it is worse than in any 
other part I have seen. England hates us, their ministers hate 
us, and their King more than all other men. (To John Page, 
written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 214.) 

England. — I consider the English as our natural enemies and 
the only nation on earth who wish us ill from the bottom of their 
souls. And I am satisfied that were our continent to be 
swallowed up by the ocean. Great Britain would be a bonfire 
from one end to the other. (To William Carmichael, written in 
Paris, 1787. F. IV., 470.) 

England. — When we take notice that theirs (England) is the 
workshop to which we go for all we w^ant; that with them center 
either immediately or ultimately all the labors of our hands and 
lands; that to them belong either openly or secretly the great 
mass of our navigation; that even the factorage of their affairs 
here is kept to themselves by factitious citizenship; that these 
foreign and false citizens now constitute the great body of what 
are called our merchants, fill our seaports, are planted in every 
little town and district of the interior country, sway everything 
in the former places by their own votes, and those of their 
dependents in the latter by their insinuations and their letters; 
that they are advancing fast to a monopoly of our bank and 
public funds, and thereby placing our public finances under 
their control; that they have in their alliance the most in- 
fluential characters in and out of of^ce; when they have shown 
that by all these bearings on the different branches of govern- 
ment they can force it to proceed in whatever direction they 



204 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

dictate, and bend the interests of this country entirely to the 
will of another; when all this, I say, is attended to, it is im- 
possible for us to say we stand on independent ground, impos- 
sible for a free mind not to see and to groan under the bondage 
in which it is bound. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1797. F. VII., 121.) 

England. — Our successors have deserved well of their country 
in meeting so readily the first friendly advance ever made to us 
by England. I hope it is the harbinger of a return to the exer- 
cise of common sense and common good humor, with a country 
with which mutual interests would urge a mutual and affec- 
tionate intercourse. But her conduct hitherto has been towards 
us so insulting, so tyrannical and so malicious, as to indicate a 
contempt for our opinions or dispositions respecting her. I 
hope she is now coming over to a wiser conduct, and becoming 
sensible how much better it is to cultivate the good will of the 
government itself, than of a faction hostile to it; to obtain its 
friendship gratis than to purchase its enmity by nourishing at 
great expense a faction to embarrass it, to receive the reward 
of an honest policy rather than of a corrupt and vexatious one. 
I trust she has at length opened her eyes to Federal falsehood 
and misinformation, and learnt in the issue of the presidential 
election, the folly of believing them. Such a reconciliation to 
the government, if real and permanent, will secure the tran- 
quillity of our country, and render the management of our affairs 
easy and delightful to our successors, for whom I feel as much 
interest as if I were still in their place. Certainly all the 
trouble and difificulties in the government during our time pro- 
ceeded from England; at least all others were trifling in com- 
parison with them. (To General Dearborne, 1809. C. V,, 455.) 

England. — The nature of the English unfits them for the 
observation of moral duties. In the first place her King is a 
cypher; his only function being to name the oligarchy which is 
to govern her. The Parliament is, by corruption, the mere 
instrument of the will of the administration. The real power 
and property in the government is in the great aristocratical 
families of the nation. The nest of office being too small for 
all of them to cuddle into at once, the contest is eternal, which 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 205 

shall crowd the other out. For this purpose, they are divided 
into two parties, the Ins and the Outs, so equal in weight that 
a small matter turns the balance. To keep themselves in, 
every stratagem must be practiced, every artifice used, which 
may flatter the pride, the passion or power of the nation. Jus- 
tice, honor, faith must yield to the necessity of keeping them- 
selves in place. The question whether a measure is moral, is 
never asked; but whether it will nourish the avarice of their 
merchants, or the piratical spirit of their navy, or produce any 
other effect which may strengthen them in their places. As to 
engagements, however positive, entered into by the predecessors 
of the Ins, why, they were enemies, they did everything 
which was wrong; and to reverse everything which they did, 
must, therefore, be right. This is the true character of the 
English Government in practice, however different its theory; 
and it presents the singular phenomenon of a nation, the indi- 
viduals of which are as faithful to their private engagements 
and duties, as honorable, as worthy, as those of any nation on 
earth, and whose government is yet the most unprincipled at 
this day known. (To Governor Langdon, 1810. C. V., 513.) 

England. — But what is to restore order and safety on the 
ocean? The death of George III? Not at all. He is only 
stupid; and his ministers, however weak and profligate in 
morals, are ephemeral. But this nation is permanent, and it 
is that which is the tyrant of the ocean. The principle that 
force is right, is become the principle of the nation itself. They 
would not permit an honest minister, were accident to bring 
such an one into power, to relax their system of lawless piracy. 
(To Caesar Rodney, 1810. C. V., 501.) 

England. — The fate of England, I think with you, is nearly 
decided, and the present form of her existence is drawing to 
a close. The ground, the houses, the men w^ill remain; but in 
what new form they will revive and stand among nations, is 
beyond the reach of human foresight. We hope it may be 
one of which the predatory principle may not be the essential 
characteristic. If her transfcrniaticn shall replace her under 
the laws of moral order, it is for the general interest that she 



2o6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

should still be a sensible and independent weight in the scale 
of nations, and be able to contribute, when a favorable moment 
presents itself, to reduce to the same order, her great rival in 
flagitiousness. We especially ought to pray that the powers of 
Europe may be so poised and counterpoised among themselves, 
that their own safety may require the presence of all the force 
at home, leaving the other quarters of the globe in undisturbed 
tranquillity. When our strength will permit us to give the law 
of our hemisphere, it should be that the meridian of the mid- 
Atlantic should be the line of demarkation between war and 
peace, on this side of which no act of hostility should be com- 
mitted, and the lion and the lamb shall lie down in peace to- 
gether. (To Dr. Crawford, 1812. C. VI., 33.) 

England. — But the English Government never dies, because 
the King is no part of it; he is a mere formality, and the real 
government is the aristocracy of the country, for the House 
of Commons is of that class. Their aim is to claim the dominion 
of the ocean by conquest, and to make every vessel navigating 
it pay a tribute to the support of the f^eet necessary to main- 
tain that dominion, to which their own resources are inadequate. 
I see no means of terminating their maritime dominion and 
tyranny but in their own bankruptcy, which I hope is approach- 
ing. (To Dr. Brown, 1813. C. VI., 165.) 

England. — There is not a nation on the globe with whom I 
have more earnestly wished a friendly intercourse on equal 
conditions. On no other would I hold out the hand of friend- 
ship to any. I know that their creatures represent me as per- 
sonally an enemy to England. But fools can only think this, 
or those who think me a fool. I am an enemy to her insults 
and injuries. I am an enemy to the flagitious principles of 
her administration, and to those who govern her conduct 
towards other nations. But would she give to morality some 
place in the political code, and especially would she exercise 
decency, and at least neutral passions towards us, there is not, 
I repeat it, a people on earth with whom I would sacrifice so 
much to be in friendship. (To Caesar Rodney, 181 5. C. VI., 
449-) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 207 

England. — I hope in God her government will come to a 
sense of this, and will see that honesty and interest are as 
intimately connected in the public as in the private code of 
morality. Her ministers have been weak enough to believe 
from the newspapers that Mr. Madison and myself are per- 
sonally her enemies. Such an idea is unworthy a man of sense; 
as we should have been unworthy our trusts could we have 
felt such a motive of public action. No two men in the United 
States have more sincerely wished for cordial friendship with 
her; not as her vassals or dirty partisans, but as members of 
co-equal states, respecting each other; and sensible of the good 
as well as the harm each is capable of doing the other. On this 
ground there never was a moment we did not wish to embrace 
her. But repelled by their aversions, feeling their hatred at 
every point of contact and justly indignant at its supercilious 
manifestations, that happened which has happened, that will 
follow, must follow, in progressive ratio, while such dispositions 
continue to be indulged. I hope they will see this, and do their 
part towards healing the minds and cooling the temper of both 
nations. (To Mr. Murray, 181 5. C. VI., 468.) 

The English. — As a political man they, the English, shall 
never find any passion in me either for or against them. When- 
ever their avarice of commerce will let them meet us fairly 
half-way, I should meet them with satisfaction, because it would 
be for our benefit; but I mistake their character if they do this 
under present circumstances. (To Francis Kinloch, 1790. F. 
v., 249.) 

English Character. — I fancy it must be the quantity of ani- 
mal food eaten by the English which renders their character 
insusceptible to civilization. I suspect it is in their kitchens and 
not in their churches that their reformation must be worked, 
and that missionaries of that description from hence would avail 
more than those who should endeavor to tame them by pre- 
cepts of religion or philosophy. (Written from Paris to Mrs. 
John Adams, 1785. F. IV., 100.) 

Epicurus. — As you say of yourself, I too am an Epicurean. 
I consider the genuine (not the imputed) doctrines of Epicurus 



2o8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

as containing everything rational in moral philosophy which 
Greece and Rome have left us. Epictetus, indeed, has given us 
what was good of the Stoics ; all beyond, of their dogmas, being 
hypocrisy and grimace. Tlieir great crime was in their calum- 
nies of Epicurus and misrepresentation of his doctrines. * * * 
But the greatest of all reformers of the depraved religion of 
his own country, was Jesus of Nazareth. Abstracting what is 
really his from the rubbish in which it is buried, easily distin- 
guished by its lustre from the dross of his biographers, and as 
separable from that as the diamond from the dunghill, we have 
the outlines of a system of the most sublime morality which 
has fallen from the lips of man; outlines which it is lamentable 
he did not fill up. Epictetus and Epicurus give laws for gov- 
erning ourselves, Jesus a supplement of the duties and charities 
we owe to others. (To Mr. Short, 1819. C. VII., 138.) 

Equity Courts. — Relieve the judges from the rigour of text 
law, and permit them, with praetorian discretion to wander into 
its equity, and the whole legal system becomes uncertain. This 
has been its fate in every country where the fixed and dis- 
cretionary laws have been committed into the same hands. It 
is probable that the singular certainty with which justice has 
been administered in England has been the consequence of 
their distribution into two distinct departments. (Written from 
Paris to Philip Mazzei, 1785. F. IV., 115.) 

Etiquette. — I. In order to bring the members of society 
together in the first instance, the custom of the country has 
established that residents shall pay the first visit to strangers; 
and, among strangers, fi.rst comers to later comers, foreign 
and domestic; the character of strangers ceasing after the first 
visit. To this rule there is a single exception. Foreign minis- 
ters, from the necessity of making themselves known, pay the 
first visit to the ministers of the nation, which is returned. 

II. When brought together in society, all are perfectly 
equal, whether foreign or domestic, titled or untitled, in or out 
of office. 

All other obsen^ances are but exemplifications of these two 
principles. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 209 

I. 1st. The families of foreign ministers, arriving at the seat 
of government, receive the first visit from those of the national 
ministers, as from all the residents. 

2(1. Members of the Legislature and of the Judiciary, inde- 
pendent of their ofifices, have a right as strangers to receive 
the first visit. 

II. 1st. No titles being admitted here, those of foreigners 
give no precedence. 

2d. Differences of grade among diplomatic members, give 
no precedence. 

3d. At public ceremonies, to which the government invites 
the presence of foreign ministers and their families, a convenient 
seat or station will be provided for them, with any other stran- 
gers invited and the families of the national ministers, each 
taking place as they arrive, and without precedence. 

4th. To retain the principle of equality, or of pcle-mele, 
and prevent the growth of precedence out of courtesy, the mem- 
bers of the Executive will practice at their own houses, and 
recommend an adherence to the ancient usage of the country, 
gentlemen in mass giving precedence to the ladies in mass, in 
passing from one apartment where they are assembled into an- 
other. (From a Manuscript, 1803. F. VIII., 276.) 

The Executive. — The failure of the French Directory, and 
from the same cause, seems to have authorized a belief that the 
form of a plurality, however promising in theory, is impracti- 
cable with men constituted with the ordinary passions. While 
the tranquil and steady tenor of our single executive, during a 
course of twenty-two years of the most tempestuous times the 
history of the world has ever presented, gives a rational hope that 
this important problem is at length solved. Aided by the 
counsels of a cabinet, of heads of departments, originally four, 
but now five, with whom the President consults, either singly 
or altogether, he has the benefit of their wisdom and informa- 
tion, and produces an unity of action and direction in all the 
branches of the government. The excellence of this construc- 
tion of the executive power has already manifested itself here 
tinder very opposite circumstances. During the administration 



2IO THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of our first President, his cabinet of four members was equally 
divided by as marked an opposition of principle as monarchism 
and republicanism could bring into conflict. Had that cabinet 
been a directory, like positive and negative quantities in algebra, 
the opposing wills would have balanced each other and pro- 
duced a state of absolute inaction. But the President heard 
with calmness the opinions and reasons of each, decided the 
course to be pursued, and kept the government steadily in it, 
unaffected by the agitation. The public knew well the dissen- 
sions of the cabinet, but never had an uneasy thought on their 
account, because they knew also they had provided a regulating 
power which would keep the machine in steady movement. 
I speak with an intimate knowledge of these scenes, quorum 
pars fid, as I may of others of a character entirely opposite. 
The third administration, which w^as of eight years, presented 
an example of harmony in a cabinet of six persons, to which 
perhaps history has furnished no parallel. There never arose 
during the whole time an instance of an unpleasant thought or 
word between the members. We sometimes met under dififer- 
ence of opinion, but scarcely ever failed, by conversing and 
reasoning, sO' to modify each others' ideas as to produce a 
unanimous result. Yet able and amiable as these members 
were, I am not certain this would have been the case had each 
possessed equal and independent powers. Ill-defined limits of 
their respective departments, jealousies, trifling at first, but 
nourished and strengthened by repetition of occasions, intrigues 
without doors of designing persons to build an importance to 
themselves on the divisions of others might from small begin- 
nings have produced persevering oppositions. But the power 
of decision in the President left no object for internal dissension, 
and external intrigue was stifled in embryo by the knowledge 
which incendiaries possessed that no division they could ferment 
would change the course of the executive power. I am not 
conscious that my participations in the executive authority 
have produced any bias in favor of the single executive, because 
the parts I have acted have been in the subordinate as well as in 
superior stations, and because, if I know myself, what I have 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 211 

felt and what I have wished, I know that I have never been so 
well pleased as when I could shift power from my own on the 
shoulders of others, nor have I ever been able to conceive how 
any rational being could propose happiness to himself from 
the exercise of power over others. (To Destutt Tracy, 1881. 
C. v., 568.) 

Expansion. — I am aware of the force of the observations you 
make on the power given by the Constitution to Congress to 
admit new States into the Union without restraining the subject 
to the territory then constituting the United States. But 
when I consider that the limits of the United States are pre- 
cisely fixed by the treaty of 1783, that the Constitution ex- 
pressly declares itself to be made for the United States, I cannot 
help believing the intention was not to permit Congress to 
admit into the Union new States which should be formed out 
of the territoiy for which and under whose authority alone they 
were then acting. I do not believe it was meant that they 
might receive England, Ireland, Holland, etc., into it, which 
would be the case under your construction. (To W. C. Nicholas, 
1803. CIV., 505.) 

Expansion. — The denouement (referring to the acquisition of 
Louisiana) has been happy; and I confess I look to this duplica- 
tion of area for the extending of a government so free and 
economical as ours as a great achievement to the mass of happi- 
ness that is to ensue. (To Dr. Priestly, 1804. C. IV., 525.) 

Expansion. — See Canada, Cuba, Louisiana. 

Exercise. — Give about two hours every day to exercise; for 
health must not be sacrificed to learning. A strong body makes 
the mind strong. As to the species of exercise, I advise the 
gun. While this gives a moderate exercise to the body, it 
gives boldness, enterprise, and independence to the mind. 
Games played with the ball, and others of that nature, are too 
violent for the body, and stamp no character on the mind. Let 
your gun, therefore, be the constant companion of your walks. 
Never think of taking a book with you. The object of walking 
is to relax the mind. You should, therefore, not permit your- 
self even to think while you walk; but direct yourself by the 



212 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

objects surrounding you. Walking is the best possible exercise. 
Habituate yourself to walk very far. The Europeans value 
themselves on having subdued the horse to the uses of man; 
but I doubt whether we have not lost more than we have gained 
by the use of this animal. No one has occasioned so much the 
degeneracy of the human body. An Indian goes on foot nearly 
as far in a day for a long journey as an enfeebled white does 
on his horse; and he will tire the best horses. There is no 
habit you will value so much as that of walking far without 
fatigue. I would advise you to take your exercise in the after- 
noon; not because it is the best time for exercise, for certainly 
it is not; but because it is the best time to spare from your 
studies; and habit will soon reconcile it to health, and render 
it nearly as useful as if you gave to that the more precious 
hours of the day. A little walk of half an hour in the morning 
when you first rise is advisable also. It shakes off sleep and pro- 
duces other good effects in the animal economy. (To Peter 
Carr, his nephew, 1785. C. I., 397.) 

Expatriation. — My opinion on the right of expatriation has 
been, so long ago as the year 1776, consigned to record in 
the act of the Virginia code, drawn by myself, recognizing the 
right expressly, and prescribing the mode of exercising it. The 
evidence of this natural right, like that of our right to life, 
liberty, the use of our facilities, the pursuit of happiness, is not 
left to the feeble and sophistical investigations of reason, but 
is impressed on the sense of every man. We do not claim these 
under the charters of kings or legislators, but under the King 
of kings. If he has made it a law in the nature of man to 
pursue his own happiness, he has left him free in the choice of 
place as well as mode; and we may safely call on the whole 
body of English jurists to produce the map on which Nature 
has traced, for each individual, the geographical line which she 
forbids him to cross in pursuit of happiness. It certainly does 
not exist in the mind. Where, then, is it? I believe, too, I 
might safely affirm, that there is not another nation, civilized or 
savage, which has ever denied this natural right. I doubt if 
there is another which refuses its exercise. I know it is allowed 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 213 

in some of the most respectable countries of continental Europe, 
nor have 1 ever heard of one in which it was not. How it is 
among our savage neighbors, who have no law but that of 
nature, we all know. (To Dr. John Manners, 181 7. C. 

VII., 7Z-) 

Expatriation. — I hold the right of expatriation to be in- 
herent in every man by the laws of nature, and incapable of 
being rightly taken from him even by the united will of every 
other person in the nation. If the laws have provided no par- 
ticular mode by which the right of expatriation may be exer- 
cised, the individual may do it by any effectual and unequivocal 
act or declaration. The laws of Virginia have provided a mode; 
Mr. Cooper is said to have exercised his right solemnly and 
exactly according to that mode, and to have departed from the 
Commonwealth; whereupon the law declares that "he shall 
thenceforth be deemed no citizen." Returning afterwards he 
returns an alien, and must proceed to make himself a citizen 
if he desires it, as every other alien does. At present he can 
hold no lands, receive nor transmit any inheritance, nor enjoy 
any other right peculiar to a citizen. 

The general government has nothing to do with this ques- 
tion. Congress may by the Constitution "establish an uniform 
rule of naturalization," that is, by what rule an alien may 
become a citizen. But they cannot take from the citizen his 
natural right of divesting himself of the character of a citizen 
by expatriation. (To Albert Gallatin, 1806. F. VIII., 458.) 

Expenses of Public Servants. — It is just the members of 
the General Assembly, delegated by the people to transact for 
them the legislative business, should, while attending that busi- 
ness, have their reasonable sustenance defrayed ; * * * and it 
is expedient that the public councils should not be deterred from 
entering into them by the insufficiency of their private fortunes 
to be the extraordinary expenses they must necessarily incur. 
(From a Bill giving members of the Assembly an adequate al- 
lowance, 1778. F. II., 165.) 

Farmer. — An industrious farmer occupies a more dignified 
place in the scale of beings, whether moral or political, than 



214 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

a lazy lounger, valuing himself on his family, too proud to work, 
and drawing out a miserable existence by eating on that surplus 
of other men's labour which is the sacred fund of the helpless 
poor. (Written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 176.) 

Farmers. — Farmers are the true representatives of the great 
American interest and are alone to be relied on for expressing 
the proper American sentiments. (From a letter to Arthur 
Campbell, 1797.) 

Farming. — When I first entered on the stage of public life 
(now twenty-four years ago), I came to a resolution never to 
engage while in public office in any kind of enterprise for the 
improvement of my fortune nor to wear any other character 
than that of a farmer. I have never departed from it in a single 
instance; and I have in multiplied instances found myself happy 
in being able to decide and to act as a public servant, clear 
of all interest in the multiform questions that have arisen, 
wherein I have seen others embarrassed and biased by having 
got themselves into a more interested situation. Thus I have 
thought myself richer in contentment than I should have been 
with any increase of fortune. Certainly I should have been 
much wealthier had I remained in that private condition which 
renders it lawful and even laudable to use proper efforts to 
better it. However, my public career is now closing, and I 
will go through on the principle on which I have hitherto acted. 
(From a letter without an address, 1793. C. III., 527.) 

The Federalist. — With respect tO' the Federalist, the three 
authors had been named to me. I read it with care, pleasure 
and improvement, and was satisfied there was nothing in it 
by one of these hands and not a great deal by a second. It 
does the highest honor to the third, as being in my opinion, 
the best commentary on the principles of government which ever 
was written. In some parts it is discoverable that the author 
means only to say what may be best said in defense of opinions 
in which he did not concur. But in general it establishes firmly 
the plan of government. I confess it has rectified me in several 
points. (From a letter to James Madison, written in Paris, 1788. 
F- v., 53.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 215 

Fiction. — A little attention to the nature of the human mind 
evinces that the entertainments of fiction are useful as well as 
pleasant. * * * /^ lively and lasting sense of filial duty is 
more efifectually impressed on the mind of a son or daughter 
by reading King Lear, than by all the dry volumes of ethics 
and divinity that ever were written. (To Robert Skipwith, a 
friend of Jefferson's youth, 1771. F. L, 398.) 

Foreign Entanglements. — Determined as we are to avoid if 
possible wasting the energies of our people in war and destruc- 
tion, we shall avoid implicating ourselves with the powers of 
Europe even in the support of principles which we mean to 
pursue. They have so many other interests different from ours 
that we must avoid being entangled in them. (To Thomas 
Paine, 1801. F. VIIL, 18.) 

Foreign Entanglements. — T join you in a sense of necessity 
of restoring freedom to the ocean. But I doubt with you 
whether the United States ought to join in an armed confed- 
eracy for that purpose; or rather I am satisfied they ought not. 
It ought to be the very first object of our pursuit to have noth- 
ing to do with the European interests and politics. Let them be 
free or slaves at will, navigators or agricultural, sw-allowed into 
one government or divided into a thousand, we have nothing" 
to fear from them in any form. To take a part in their conflicts 
would be to divert our energies from creation to destruction. 
Our commerce is so valuable to them that they will be glad 
to purchase it when the only price we ask is to do us justice. 
(To Thos. Logan, 1801. F. VIIL, 23.) 

Foreign Entanglements. — We have a perfect horror at 
everything like connecting ourselves with the politics of Europe. 
It would indeed be advantageous to us to have neutral rights 
established on a broad ground; but no dependence can be placed 
in any European coalition for that. They have so many other 
by-interests of greater weight, that some one or other will 
always be bought off. To be entangled with them would be 
a much greater evil than a temporary acquiescence in the false 
principles which have prevailed. Peace is our most important 



2l6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

interest, and a recovery from debt. (To William Short, 1801. 
F. VIII., 98.) 

Foreign Ministers. — I think it possible that it will be estab- 
lished into a maxim of the new government to discontinue its 
foreign servants after a certain time of absence from their own 
country because they lose in time that suf^cient degree of 
intimacy with its circumstances which alone can enable them 
to know and pursue its interests. (To William Short, 1790. F. 

v., 244.) 

France. — This occasion [the assembling of the Notables] 
more than anything I have seen, convinces me that this nation 
is incapable of any serious effort but under the word of com- 
mand. The people at large view every object only as it may 
furnish puns and bon mots; and I pronounce that a good pun- 
ster would disarm the whole nation were they ever so seriously 
disposed to revolt. Indeed, Madam, they are gone, when a 
measure so capable of doing good as the calling of the Notables 
is treated with so much ridicule; we may conclude the nation 
desperate and in charity pray that heaven may send them good 
kings. (To Mrs. John Adams, written from Paris, 1787. F. 

IV., 37I-) 

France. — I consider your boasts of the splendor of your city 
[London] and of its superb hackney coaches as a flout, and 
I declare that I would not give the polite, self-denying, feeling, 
hospitable, good-humored people of this country and their 
amiability in every point of view (tho' it must be confessed our 
streets are somewhat dirty, and our fiacres rather indifferent) 
for ten such races of rich, proud, hectoring, swearing, squibbling, 
carnivorous animals as those among whom you are; and I do 
love this people with all my heart, and think that with a better 
religion, a better form of government and their present gov- 
ernors, their condition and country would be most enviable. 
(Written from Paris to Mrs. John Adams, 1785. F. IV., 61.) 

France. — Be assured. Sir, that the government and citizens 
of the United States view with the most sincere pleasure every 
advance of your nation towards its happiness, an object essen- 
tially connected with its liberty, and they consider the union 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 21/ 

of principles and pursuits between our two countries as a link 
which binds still closer than interests and affections. The 
genuine and general effusion of joy which you saw overspread 
our country on their seeing the liberties of yours rise superior 
to foreign invasion and domestic trouble has proved to you 
that our sympathies are great and sincere, and we earnestly 
wish on our part that there our mutual dispositions may be 
improved to mutual good by establishing our commercial inter- 
course on principles as friendly to natural right and freedom 
as are those of our government. (Written to the French Minis- 
ter, 1793. F. VI., 189.) 

France and England. — When of two nations the one has 
engaged herself in a ruinous war for us, has spent her blood 
and money to save us, has opened her bosom to us in peace, 
and received us almost on the footings of her own citizens, 
while the other has moved heaven, earth and hell to exter- 
minate us in w-ar, has insulted us in all her councils in peace, 
shut her doors to us in every port where her interests would 
admit it, libeled us in foreign nations, endeavored to poison 
them against the reception of our most precious commodities; 
to place these two nations on a footing, is to give a great deal 
more to one than to the other if the maxim be true that to 
make unequal quantities equal you must add more to the one 
than to the other. To say in excuse that gratitude is never 
to enter into the motives of national conduct is to revive a 
principle which has been buried for centuries with its kindred 
principles of the lawfulness of assassination, poison, prying, etc. 
(Written to James IMadison from Paris, 1789. F, V., iii.) 

Franklin, Benjamin. — The succession to Dr. Franklin, at 
the court of France, was an excellent school of humility. On being 
represented to any one as the Minister of America, the common- 
place question used in such cases was "C'cst voiis, Monsieur, 
qui remplace le Doctcur Franklin;" "It is you, Sir, who replace 
Dr. Franklin." I generally answered, "No one can replace 
him, Sir; I am only his successor." (To Rev. William Smith, 
1791. F. v., 293.) 

Freedom. — The station which we occupy among the nations 



2l8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of the earth is honorable, but awful. Trusted with the destinies 
of this solitary republic of the world, the only monument of 
human rights and the sole depository of the sacred fire of free- 
dom and self-government, from hence it is to be lighted up in 
other regions of the earth, if other regions of the earth ever 
become susceptible of its benign influence. All mankind ought 
then, with us, to rejoice in its prosperous, and sympathize in its 
adverse fortunes, as involving everything that is dear to man. 
And tO' what sacrifices of interest, or commerce ought not 
these considerations to animate us? To what compromises of 
opinion and inclination, to maintain harmony and union among 
ourselves, and to preserve from all danger this hallowed ark of 
human hope and human happiness. That differences of opinion 
should arise among men, on politics, on religion, and on every 
other topic of human inquiry, and that these should be freely 
expressed in a country where all our faculties are free, is to be 
expected. (To the citizens of Washington, 1809. C. VIII., 

I57-) 

Freedom of the Press. — As to^ myself, conscious that there 

was not a truth on earth which I feared should be known, I 
have lent myself willingly as the subject of a great experiment, 
which was to prove that an administration, conducting itself 
with integrity and common understanding, cannot be battered 
down, even by the falsehoods of a licentious press, and conse- 
quently still less by the press, as restrained within the legal 
and wholesome limits of truth. This experiment was wanting 
for the world to demonstrate the falsehood of the pretext that 
freedom of the press is incompatible with orderly government. 
I have never therefore even contradicted the thousands of calum- 
nies so industriously propagated against myself. But the fact 
being once established, that the press is impotent when it 
abandons itself to falsehood, I leave to others to restore it to 
its strength, by recalling it within the pale of truth. Within 
that, it is a noble institution, equally the friend of science and 
of civil liberty. If this can once be effected in your State, I 
trust we shall soon see its citizens rally to the republican prin- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 219 

ciples of our Constitution, which unite their sister-states into 
one family. (To Thomas Seymour, 1807, C. V., 43.) 

Free Goods. — "Free ships should make free goods;" this 
principle has by every maritime nation of Europe been estab- 
lished, to a greater or less degree, in its treaties with other 
nations; insomuch, that all of them have, more or less fre- 
quently, assented to it, as a rule of action in particular cases. 
Indeed, it is now urged, and I think with great appearance of 
reason, that this is genuine principle dictated by national 
morality; and that the first practice arose from accident, and the 
particular convenience of the States which first figured on the 
water, rather than from well-digested reflections on the rela- 
tions of friend and enemy, on the rights of territorial jurisdic- 
tion, and on the dictates of moral law applied to these. Thus 
it had never been supposed lawful, in the territory of a friend to 
seize the goods of an enemy. On an element which nature 
has not subjected to the jurisdiction of any particular nation, 
but has made common to all for the purposes to which it is 
fitted, it would seem that the particular portion of it which 
happens to be occupied by the vessel of any nation, in the 
course of its voyage, is for the moment, the exclusive property 
of that, and the nation, with the vessel, is exempt from intrusion 
by any other, and from its jurisdiction, as much as if it were 
lying in the harbor of its sovereign. In no country, we believe, 
is the rule otherwise, as to the subjects of property common 
to all. Thus the place occupied by an individual in a highway, 
a church, a theater, or other public assembly, cannot be intruded 
on, while its occupants hold it for the purpose of its institution. 
The persons on board a vessel traversing the ocean, carry 
with them the laws of their nation, have among themselves a 
jurisdiction, a police, not established by their individual will, 
but by the authority of their nation, of whose territory their 
vessel still seems to compose a part, so long as it does not 
enter the exclusive territory of another. 

No nation ever pretended a right to govern by their laws 
the ship of another nation navigating the ocean. By what law 
then can it enter that ship while in peaceable and orderly use of 



220 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the common element? We recognize no' natural precept for 
submission to such a right; and perceive no distinction between 
the movable and the immovable jurisdiction of a friend, which 
would authorize the entering the one and not the other, to 
seize the property of an enemy. (To the United States Minister 
to France, 1801. F. VIII., 89.) 

French Revolution. — The revolution in this country seems 
to be going on well. * * * Yhe circumstance from which 
I fear the worst is that the States General are too numerous. 
I see great difficulty in preventing 1,200 people from becoming 
a mob. Should confusion be prevented from this circumstance, 
I suppose the States General, with the consent of the King, 
will establish some of the leading features of a good constitu- 
tion. They have indeed a miserable old canvas to work on, 
covered with daubings which it will be difficult to efface. (Writ- 
ten to William Carmichael from Paris, 1789. F. V., 74.) 

French Revolution. — The change in this country since you 
left it is such as you can form no idea of. The frivolities of 
conversation have given away entirely to politics. Men, women, 
and children talk nothing else. The press groans wdth daily 
productions which in point of boldness make an Englishman 
stare. A complete revolution in this government has, within 
the space of two years been effected merely by the force of 
public opinion, aided indeed by the want of money which the 
dissipations of the court had brought on. The assembly of 
the States General begins the 27th of April. The representa- 
tion of the people will be perfect. But they will be alloyed 
by an equal number of nobility and clergy. * * * j believe 
this nation will in the course of the present year have as full 
a portion of liberty dealt out to them as the nation can bear 
at present, considering how uninformed the mass of their people 
is. (Written to David Humphreys from Paris, 1789. F. V., 88.) 

French Revolution. — The American war seems first to have 
awakened the thinking part of the nation in general from the 
sleep of despotism in which they were sunk. The officers, too, 
who have been to America, were mostly young men, less 
shackled by habit and prejudice, and more ready to assent to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON • 221 

the dictates of common sense and common right. They came 
back impressed with these. The press notwithstanding its 
shackles, began to disseminate them; conversation, too, as- 
sumed new freedom; poHtics became the theme of all societies, 
male and female, and a very extensive and zealous party was 
formed, which may be called the Patriotic party, who sensible 
of the abusive government under which they lived, longed for 
occasion of reforming it. This party comprehended all the 
honesty of the kingdom, sufficiently at its leisure to think; the 
men of letters, the easy bourgeois, the young nobility, partly 
from reflection, partly from mode; for these sentiments became 
a matter of mode, and as such united most of the young women 
to the party. Happily for the nation, it happened that, at the 
same moment the dissipation of the court had exhausted the 
money and credit of the State, and M. de Calonnes found him- 
self obliged to appeal to the nation, and to develop to it the 
ruin of their finances. He had no idea of supplying the deficit 
by economies; he saw no means but new taxes. To tempt the 
nation to consent to these some douceurs were necessary. The 
notables wxre called in 1787. The leading vices of the con- 
stitution and administration were ably sketched out, good 
remedies proposed, and under the splendor of the propositions, 
a demand for more money was couched. The Notables con- 
curred with the minister in the necessity of reformation, adroitly 
avoided the demand for money, got him displaced, and one 
of their leading men placed in his room. The archbishop of 
Toulouse, by the aid of the hopes formed of him, was able to 
borrow some money, and he reformed considerably the expenses 
of the court. Notwithstanding the prejudices since formed 
against him, he appeared to me to pursue the reformation of 
the laws and constitution as steadily as a man could do who had 
to drag the court after him, and even to conceal from them 
the consequences of the measures he was leading them into. 
In this time the criminal laws were reformed, provincial assem- 
blies and States established in most of the provinces, the States 
General promised, and a solemn acknowledgment was made 
by the King that he could not impose a new tax without the 



222 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

consent of the nation. It is true he was continually goaded 
forward by the public claims, excited by the writings and work- 
ings of the Patriots, who were able to keep up the public fer- 
mentation at the exact point which borders on resistance, 
without entering it. They had taken into their alliance the 
Parliaments also, who were led, by very singular circumstances, 
to espouse, for the first time the rights of the nation. They had 
from old causes had personal hostility against M, de Colonnes. 
They refused to register his laws or his taxes, and went so far 
as to acknowledge they had no power to do it. They persisted 
in this with his successor, wdio therefore exiled them. Seeing 
that the nation did not interest themselves much for their recall, 
they began to fear that the new judicature proposed in their 
place would be established and that their own suppression would 
be perpetual. In short, they found their own strength insuffi- 
cient to oppose that of the King. They therefore insisted that 
the States General should be called. Here they became united 
with and supported by the Patriots, and their joint influence 
was sufficient to produce the promise of that assembly. I always 
suspected that the archbishops had no objections to this force 
under which they laid him. But the Patriots and Parliament 
insisted it was their efforts which extorted the promise against 
his will. The re-establishment of the Parliament was the effect 
of the same coalition between the Patriots and Parliament; but 
once re-established, the latter began to see danger in that very 
power, the States General, which they had called for in a 
moment of despair, but which they now foresaw might very 
possibly abridge their power. They began to prepare ground for 
questioning their legality, as a rod over the head of the States, 
and as a refuge if they should really extend their reformations 
to them. Mr. Neckar came in at this period and very dexter- 
ously disembarrassed the administration of their disputes by 
calling the Notables to advise the form of calling and consti- 
tuting the States. The court was well disposed towards the 
people, not from principles of justice or love to them; but 
they want money. No more can be had from the people. They 
are squeezed to the last drop. The clergy and nobles, by their 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 223 

privileges and influence, have kept their property in a great 
measure untaxed hitherto. They then remain to be squeezed, 
and no agent is powerful enough for this but the people. The 
court must therefore ally itself with the people. But the Nota- 
bles, consisting mostly of privileged characters, had proposed 
a method of composing the States, which would have rendered 
the voice of the people, or Tiers Etat, in the States General, 
inefficient for the purpose of the court. It concurred then 
with the Patriots in intriguing with the Parliament to get them 
to pass a vote in favor of the rights of the people. This vote, 
balancing that of the Notables, has placed the court at liberty 
to follow its own views, and they have determined that the 
Tiers Etat shall have in the States General as many votes 
as the clergy and nobles put together. Still a great question 
remains to be decided, that is, shall the States General vote 
by orders, or by person ? Precedents are both ways. The clergy 
will move heaven and earth to obtain suffrage by orders, because 
that parries the effect of all hitherto done for the people. The 
people will probably send their deputies expressly instructed 
to consent to no tax, to no adoption of the public debt, unless 
the unprivileged part of the nation has a voice equal to that 
of the privileged ; that is to say, unless the voice of the Tiers 
Etat be equalled to that of the clergy and Notables. They will 
have the young noblesse in general on their side, and the King 
and the court. Against them will be the ancient nobles and 
the clergy. So that I hope, upon the whole, that by the time 
they meet, there will be a majority of the nobles themselves in 
favor of the Tiers Etat. So far history. We are now come to 
prophecy; for you will ask, to what will all this lead? I answer, 
if the States General do not stumble at the threshold on the 
questions before stated, and which must be decided before 
they can proceed to business, then they will in their first session 
easily obtain: i. Their future periodical convocation of the 
States. 2. Tlieir exclusive right to raise and appropriate money 
w'hich includes that of establishing a civil list. 3. A participa- 
tion in legislation; probably at first, it will be a transfer to them 
of the portion of it now exercised by Parliament, that is to say, 



224 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

a right to propose amendments and negatives. But it must 
infallibly end in a right of origination. 4. Perhaps they may 
make a declaration of rights. It will be attempted at least. 
Two other objects will be attempted, viz., a habeas corpus law 
and a free press. But probably they may not obtain these in 
the first session, or with modification only, and the nation must 
be left to ripen itself more for their unlimited adoption. Upon 
the whole, it has appeared to me that the basis of the present 
struggle is an illumination of the public mind as to the rights 
of the nation, aided by fortunate incidents; that they can never 
retrograde, but from the natural progress of things, must press 
forward to the establishment of a constitution which shall as- 
sure them a good degree of liberty. They flatter themselves 
they shall form a better constitution than the English. I think 
it will be better in some points, worse in others. It will be better 
in the article of representation, which will be more equal. It 
will be worse, as their situation obliges them to keep up the 
dangerous machine of a standing- army. I doubt, too, whether 
they will obtain the trial by jury, because they are not sensible 
of its value. (To Dr. Price, written in Paris, 1789. C. II., 

553-557-) 

French Revolution. — I am looking ardently tO' the comple- 
tion of the glorious work in which your country is engaged. 
I view the general condition of Europe as hanging on the 
success or failure of France. Having set such an example of 
philosophical arrangement within, I hope it will extend without 
your limits also, to your dependents and to your friends in 
every part of the earth. (To the Marquis de Condercet, 1791. 

F.V.,379.) 

French Revolution. — I still hope the French revolution will 
issue happily. I feel that the permanence of our own leans in 
some degree on that, and that failure there would be a powerful 
argument to prove a failure here. (To Edward Rutledge, 1791. 

F.V.,377-) 

French Revolution. — The French Revolution proceeds 

steadily, and is, I think, beyond the danger of accident of every 

kind. The success of that will ensure the progress of liberty 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 225 

in Europe, and its preservation here. The faikire of that would 
have been a powerful argument with those who wish to intro- 
duce a king, lords and commons here. (To E. Pendleton, 1791. 
F. v., 358.) 

French Revolution. — I look with great anxiety for the firm 
establishment of the new government in France, being per- 
fectly convinced that if it takes place there, it will spread sooner 
or later all over Europe. On the contrary a check there would 
retard the revival of liberty in other countries. I consider the 
establishment and success of their government as necessary to 
stay up our own, and to prevent it from falling back to that 
kind of half-way house, the English constitution. It cannot be 
denied that we have among us a sect who believe that to con- 
tain whatever is perfect in human institutions; that the members 
of this sect have, many of them, names and offices which stand 
high in the estimation of our countrymen. I still reply that 
the great mass of our community is untainted by these heresies, 
as is its head. On this I build my hope that we have not 
labored in vain, and that our experiment will still prove that 
men can be governed by reason. (To George Mason, 1791. 
F. v., 275.) 

French Revolution. — We surely cannot deny to any nation 
the right whereon our own government is founded, that every 
one may govern itself under whatever form it pleases, and 
change these forms at its own will, and that it may transact 
its business with foreign nations through whatever organ it 
thinks proper, whether King, convention, assembly, committee, 
President, or whatever else it may choose. The will of the 
nation is the only thing essential to be regarded. * * * In- 
deed we wish no opportunity of convincing them [the French 
people] how cordially we desire the closest union with them; 
mutual good offices, mutual affection and similar principles of 
government seem to have destined the two people for the most 
intimate communion, and even for a complete exchange of 
citizenship among the individuals composing them. (From a 
letter to the United States Minister to France, 1792. F. VI., 

150-) 



226 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

French Revolution. — This ministry which is of the Jacobin 
party cannot but be favorable to us, as that whole party must 
be. Indeed notwithstanding the very general abuse of the 
Jacobins, I begin to consider them as representing the true 
revolution spirit of the whole nation, and as carrying the nation 
with them. (To James Madison, 1792. F. VL, 96.) 

French Revolution. — I considered the Jacobins as the same 
with the Republican patriots and the Feuillants as the monarch- 
ical patriots, well known in the early part of the Revolution and 
but little distant in their views, both having in object the estab- 
lishment of a free constitution, and differing only on the ques- 
tion whether their chief Executor should be hereditary or not. 
The Jacobins (as since called) yielded to the Feuillants and tried 
the experiment of retaining their hereditary Executive. The 
experiment failed completely, and would have brought on the 
re-establishment of despotism had it been pursued. The 
Jacobins saw this, and that the expunging that officer was of 
absolute necessity. And the nation was with them in opinion. 
* * * In the struggle which was necessary, many guilty per- 
sons fell without the forms of trial, and with them some inno- 
cent. These I deplore as much as anybody and shall deplore 
some of them to the day of my death. But I deplore them as 
I should have done had they fallen in battle. It was necessary 
to use the arm of the people, a machine not quite so blind 
as balls and bombs, but blind to a certain degree. A few of 
their cordial friends met at their hands the fate of enemies. 
But time and truth will rescue and embalm their memories, 
while their posterity will be enjoying liberty for which they 
would never have hesitated to offer up their lives. The liberty 
of the whole earth was depending on the issue of the contest, 
and was ever such a prize won with so little innocent blood? 
My own affections have been deeply wounded by some of the 
martyrs to this cause, but rather than it should have failed, 
I would have seen half of the earth desolated. Were there but 
an Adam and an Eve left in every country, and left free, it 
would be better than it now is. I have expressed to you my 
sentiments, because they are really those of 99 in an hundred 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 227 

of our citizens. The universal feasts and rejoicings which have 
lately been had on account of the successes of the French 
shewed the genuine efifusion of their hearts. (To William Short, 
1793. R v., 153.) 

French Revolution. — Our news from France continues to be 
good and to promise a continuance. The event of the revolu- 
tion there is now little doubted of, even by its enemies. The 
sensation it has produced here, and the indications of them in 
the public papers have show^n that the form our own govern- 
ment was to take depended much more on the events of France 
than any body had before imagined. The tide which, after our 
former relaxed government, took a violent course toward the 
opposite extreme, and seemed ready to hang everything round 
with the tassels and baubles of monarchy, is now getting back 
as we hope to a just means, a government of laws addressed to 
the reason of the people, and not to their weaknesses. (To T, M. 
Randolph, 1793. F. VI., 157.) 

French Revolution. — The death of the King of France has 
not produced as open condemnations from the Monocrats as 
I expected. I dined the other day in a company where the sub- 
ject was discussed. I will name the company in the order in 
■which they manifested their partialities; beginning with the 
warmest Jacobinism and proceeding by shades to the most 
heartfelt aristocracy. Smith (N. Y.), Coxe, Stewart, T. Ship- 
pen, Bingham, Peters, Breck, Meredith, Wolcott. It is certain 
that the ladies of this city [Philadelphia] of the first circle are 
all open-mouthed against the murderers of a sovereign, and 
they generally speak those sentiments which the more cautious 
husband smothers. (To James Madison, 1793. F. VI., 192.) 

French Revolution. — The war between France and England 
seems to be producing an effect not contemplated. All the old 
spirit of 1776 is rekindling. The newspapers from Boston to 
Charleston prove this; and even the Monocrat papers are obliged 
to publish the most furious Philippics against England. A 
French frigate took a British prize off the capes of Delaware 
the other day and sent her up here. Upon her coming into sight 
thousands and thousands of the yeomanry of the city crowded 



228 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

and covered the wharves. Never before was such a crowd seen 
there, and when the British colors were seen reversed and the 
French flying above them, they burst into peals of exultation. 
I wish we may be able tO' repress the spirit of the people within 
the limits of a fair neutrality. (To James Monroe, 1793. F. 
VL, 238.) 

French Revolution. — I am happy in a safe occasion of an- 
swering you that I continue eternally attached to the princi- 
ples of your revolution. I hope it will end in the establishment 
of some firm government friendly tO' liberty and capable of 
maintaining it. If it does not, I feel that the zealous apostles 
of English despotism here will increase the number of its 
disciples. However, we shall still remain free. Though they 
may harass our spirits, they cannot make impressions on our 
center. (To Jean Pierre Brissot, 1793. F. VI. , 249.) 

French Revolution. — The French have been guilty of great 
errors in their conduct toward other nations, not only insulting 
uselessly all crowned heads, but endeavoring to force liberty 
on their neighbors, in their own form. They seem to be cor- 
recting themselves in the latter point. (To T. M. Randolph, 
1793. F.VI.,318.) 

French Revolution. — Your letters give a comfortable view 
of French affairs, and later events seem to confirm it. Over the 
foreign powers I am convinced they will triumph completely, 
and I cannot but hope that that triumph and the consequent 
disgrace of the invading tyrants is destined, in the order of 
events, to kindle the wrath of the people of Europe against 
those who have dared to embroil them in such wickedness, and 
to bring at length kings, nobles and priests to the scaffold 
which they have been so long deluging with human blood. 
I am still warm whenever I think of these scoundrels, though I 
do it as seldom as I can, preferring infinitely to contemplate 
the tranquil growth of my lucern and potatoes, (To Tench 
Coxe, 1794. F. VI., 508.) 

Freneau.' — He (Washington) adverted to a piece in Freneau's 
paper of yesterday; he said he despised all their attacks on him 
personally, but that there had never been an act of the govern- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 229 

ment, not meaning' the executive line only, but in any line 
which that paper had not abused. * * * He was evidently 
sore and warm, and I took his intention to be that I should 
interfere in some way with Freneau, perhaps withdraw his ap- 
pointment of translating" clerk to my office. But I will not do 
it. His paper has saved our Constitution, which was g-alloping 
fast into monarchy and has been checked by no one means so 
powerfully as by that paper. It is well and universally known 
that it has been that paper which has checked the career of the 
Monocrats, and the President not sensible of the designs of the 
party has not with his usual good sense and sang froid looked 
on the efforts and effects of this free press, and seen that though 
some bad things have passed through it to the public yet the 
good have preponderated immensely. (Anas, 1793. C. VIII., 

I45-) 

Friendship. — When languishing under disease, how grateful 

is the solace of our friends! How we are penetrated with their 

assiduities and attentions! How much are we supported by 

their encouragement and kind offices! When heaven has taken 

from us some object of our love, how sweet it is to have a bosom 

whereon to recline our heads and into which we may pour the 

torrent of our tears! Grief, with such a comfort, is almost a 

luxury! Friendship is precious, not only in the shade but in the 

sunshine of life; and thanks to a benevolent arrangement of 

things, the greater part of life is sunshine. I will recur for proof 

to the days we have lately passed. On these indeed the sun 

shone brightly. How gay did the face of nature appear! Hills, 

valleys, chateaux, gardens, rivers, every object wore its loveliest 

hue! Whence did they borrow it? From the presence of our 

charming companion. They were pleasing because she seemed 

pleased. Alone the scene would have been dull and insipid; 

the participation of it with her gave relish. Let the gloomy 

monk, sequestered from the v/orld. seek unsocial pleasures in 

the bottom of his cell; let the sublimated philosopher grasp 

visionary happiness while pursuing phantoms dressed in the 

garb of truth. Their supreme wisdom is supreme folly. Had 

they ever felt the solid pleasure of one generous spasm of the 



230 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

heart, they would exchange it for all the frigid speculations of 
their lives. Believe me, then, my friend, that that is a miserable 
arithmetic which could estimate friendship at nothing. (From 
a letter to Mrs. Maria Cosway, written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 

319-) 

Friendship. — The way to make friends quarrel is to put them 
in disputation under the pubhc eye. An experience of near 
twenty years has taught me that few friendships stand this test, 
and that public assemblies, v/here every one is free to act and 
speak, are the most powerful looseners of the bands of private 
friendship. (To George Washington, 1784. F. III., 466.) 

Fugitive Debtors. — To remit the fugitive from debt would 
be to remit him in every case, for in the present state of things 
it is next tO' impossible not to owe something. But I see 
neither injustice nor inconvenience in permitting the fugitive 
to be sued in our courts. The laws of some countries punishing 
the unfortunate debtor by perpetual imprisonment, he is right 
to liberate himself by flight, and it would be wrong to re-im- 
prison him in the country to which he flies. Let all process, 
therefore, be confined to his property. (From a report on con- 
vention with Spain, 1792. F. V., 484.) 

Genet. — Never in my opinion was so calamitous an appoint- 
ment made as that of the present Minister of France here. Hot- 
headed, all imagination, no judgment, passionate, disrespectful 
and even indecent towards the President in his written as well 
as verbal communications, talking of appeals from him to Con- 
gress, from them to the people, urging the most unreasonable 
and groundless propositions, and the most dictatorial style. 
(To James Madison, 1793. F. VI., 339.) 

Genet. — Genet has thrown down the gauntlet tO' the President 
by the publication of his letter and my answer, and is himself 
forcing that appeal and risking that disgust which I had so 
much wished should have been avoided. The indications from 
different parts of the continent are already sufficient to show 
that the mass of the Republican interest has no hesitation to 
disapprove of this intermeddling by a foreigner, and the more 
readily as his object was evidently, contrary to^ his professions. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 23 1 

to force lis into the war. I am not certain whether some of the 
more furious RepubHcans may not schismatize with him. (To 
James Madison, 1793. F. VI., 398.) 

Genius. — But you, sir, who' have received from me the recom- 
mendations of a Rittenhouse, Barlow, Paine, will believe that 
talents and science are sufficient motives with me in appoint- 
ments to which they are fitted, and that Freneau as a man of 
genius might find favor in my eye. * * * j \^q\(\ it to be 
one of the distinguishing excellencies of election over hereditary 
successions that the talents which nature has provided in suffi- 
cient proportion should be selected by the society for the gov- 
ernment of their affairs, rather than this should be transmitted 
through the loins of knaves and fools, passing from debauches 
of the table to those of the bed. (To Washington, 1792. F. 
VI., 107.) 

George III. — Open your breast, sire, to liberal and expanded 
thought. Let not the name of George the Third be a blot in the 
page of history. You have no Minister for American affairs, 
because you have none taken up from among us, nor amenable 
to the laws on which they are to give you advice. It behooves 
you, therefore, to think and act for yourself and the people. 
* * * 'phg whole art of government consists in the art of 
being honest. Only aim to do your duty and mankind will 
give you credit where you fail. No longer persevere in sacrific- 
ing the rights of one part of the empire to the inordinate de- 
sires of another; but deal out to all, equal and impartial right. 
(From "A Summary View," 1774. F. I., 446.) 

George III. — The following is an epitome of the first six- 
teen years of his (George Ill's) reign: The colonies were taxed 
internally and externally; their essential interests sacrificed to 
individuals in Great Britain; their Legislatures suspended; char- 
ters annulled; trials by jury taken away; their persons subjected 
to transportation across the Atlantic and to trial before foreign 
judicatories; their supplications for redress thought beneath 
answer; armed troops sent among them to enforce submission 
to these violences; and actual hostilities commenced against 
them. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. Ill,, 221.) 



2^2 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

George III. — We have a blind story here of somebody at- 
tempting to assassinate your King, No man on earth has my 
prayers for his continuance in Hfe more sincerely than he. He 
is truly the American Messias, the most precious life that ever 
God gave. And may God continue it. Twenty long years 
has he been laboring to drive us to our good and he labors 
and will labor still for it if he can be spared. We shall have 
need of him for twenty more. The Prince of Wales on the 
throne, Landsdown and Fox in the Ministry and we are un- 
done! We become chained by our habits to the tails of those 
who hate and despise us. I repeat it then that my anxieties 
are all alive for the health and long life of the King. He has 
not a friend on earth who would lament his loss as much and 
so long as I should. (Written to Mrs. John Adams from Paris, 
1786. F. IV., 262.) 

Good Humor. — Without that bright fancy which captivates, 
I am in hopes he possesses sound judgment and much observa- 
tion; and, what I value more than all things, good humor. 
For thus I estimate the qualities of the mind: i, good humor; 
2, integrity; 3, industry; 4, science. The preference of the first 
to the second quality may not at first be acquiesced in; but 
certainly we had all rather associate with a good-humored, light- 
principled man, than with an ill-tempered rigorist in morality. 
(To Dr. Rush, 1808. C. V., 226.) 

Government. — The opinions of men are not the object of 
civil government. To suffer the civil magistrate to intrude his 
powers into the field of opinion and to restrain the profession 
or propagation of principles on supposition of their ill tendency 
is a dangerous fallacy, which at once destroys all religious liberty, 
because he being of course judge of that tendency will make 
his opinions the rule of judgment, and approve or condemn the 
sentiments of others only as they shall square with or differ from 
his own. It is time enough for the rightful purposes of civil 
government for its officers to interfere when principles break 
out into overt acts against peace and good order. (From a bill 
for establishing religious freedom, 1779. F. II., 239.) 

Government. — In every government on earth is some trace of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 233 

human weakness, some germ of corruption and degeneracy, 
which cunning will discover, and wickedness insensibly open, 
cultivate and improve. Every government degenerates when 
trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people, them- 
selves, therefore, are its only safe depositaries. And to render 
even them safe, their minds must be improved to a certain 
degree. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 254.) 

Government. — It has been said that our governments, both 
Federal and particular, want energy; that it is difificult to restrain 
both individuals and States from committing wrong. This is 
true and it is an inconvenience. On the other hand that en- 
ergy which absolute governments derive from an armed force, 
which is the efifect of the bayonet constantly held at the breast 
of every citizen, and which resembles very much the stillness of 
the grave, must be admitted also to have its inconveniences. 
We weigh the two together and like best to submit to the for- 
mer. Compare the number of wrongs committed with impunity 
by citizens among us, with those committed by the sovereign 
in other countries, and the last will be found most numerous, 
most oppressive on the mind, and most degrading of the dignity 
of man. (From questions propounded by M. De Meusnier, 
1786. F. IV., 147.) 

Government. — The first principle of a good government ib 
certainly a distribution of its powers into executive, judiciary, 
and legislative, and a subdivision of the latter into two or 
three branches. (To John Adams, 1787. F. IV., 454.) 

Government. — Though civil government duly framed and 
administered be one of the greatest blessings and most powerful 
instruments for procuring safety and happiness to men collected 
in large societies, yet such is the proneness of those to whom 
its powers are necessarily deputed to prevent them to the at- 
tainment of personal wealth and dominion and to the utter op- 
pression of their fellow men that it has become questionable 
whether the condition of our aboriginal neighbors who live 
without laws or magistracies be not preferable to that of the 
great mass of the nations of the earth who feel their laws and 



234 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

magistrates but in the weight of their burdens. (From Petition 
on Election of Jurors, 1798. F. VII., 284.) 

Government. — To cultivate peace and maintain commerce 
and navigation in all their lawful enterprises; to foster our fish- 
eries and nurseries of navigation and for the nurture of man, 
and protect the manufactures adapted to our circumstances; 
to preserve the faith of the nation by an exact discharge of its 
debts and contracts, expend the public money with the same 
care and economy we would practice with our own, and im- 
pose on our citizens no unnecessary burden ; to keep in all things 
within the pale of our rock of safety — these, fellow-citizens, 
are the landmarks by which we are to guide ourselves in all our 
proceedings. By continuing to make these our rule of action, we 
shall endear to our countrymen the true principles of their 
Constitution, and promote a union of sentiment and of action 
equally auspicious to their happiness and safety. (From the 
Second Annual Message, 1802. F. VIII., 186.) 

Government. — The only orthodox object of the institution 
of government is to secure the greatest degree of happiness 
possible to the general mass of those associated under it. 
* * * Unless the mass retains sufificient control over those 
intrusted with the powers of their government, these will be per- 
verted to their own oppression, and to the perpetuation of 
wealth and power in the individuals and their families selected 
for the trust. Vv^hether our Constitution has hit on the exact 
degree of control necessary, is yet under experiment; and it is 
a most encouraging reflection that distance and other difficulties 
securing us against the brigand governments of Europe, in 
the safe enjoyment of our farms and firesides, the experiment 
stands a better chance of being satisfactorily made here than 
on any occasion yet presented by history. (To Vander Kemp, 
1812. C.VI.,45.) 

Government. — Every society has a right to fix the funda- 
mental principles of its association, and to say to all individuals, 
that, if they contemplate pursuits beyond the limits of these 
principles, and involving dangers which the society chooses to 
avoid, they must go somewhere else for their exercise; that we 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 235 

want no citizens, and still less ephemeral and pseudo-citizens, 
on such terms. We may exclude them from our territory, as 
we do persons infected with disease. Such is the situation of 
our country. We have most abundant resources of happiness 
within ourselves, which we may enjoy in peace and safety, 
without permitting a few citizens infected with the mania of 
rambling and gambling to bring danger on the great mass en- 
gaged in innocent and safe pursuits at home. * * * ^ gov- 
ernment regulating itself by what is wise and just for the many, 
uninfluenced by the local and selfish views of the few who direct 
their affairs, has not been seen, perhaps, on earth. Or if it ex- 
isted, for a moment, at the birth of ours, it would not be easy 
to fix the term of its continuance. Still, I believe it does exist 
here in a greater degree than anywhere else. (To W. H. Craw- 
ford, 1816. C. VII., 6.) 

Government. — But when we come to the moral principles 
on which the government is to be administered, we come to 
what is proper for all conditions of society. I meet you there 
in all the benevolence and rectitude of your native character; 
and I love myself always most where I concur most wath you. 
Liberty, truth, probity, honor, are declared to be the four cardi- 
nal principles of your society. I believe with you that morality, 
compassion, generosity, are innate elements of the human con- 
stitution; that there exists a right independent of force; that a 
right to property is founded in our natural wants, in the means 
with which we are endowed to satisfy these wants, and the 
right to what we acquire by those means without violating the 
similar rights of other sensible beings; that no one has a right to 
obstruct another, exercising his faculties innocently for the re- 
lief of sensibilities made a part of his nature; that justice is the 
fundamental law of society; that the majority, oppressing an in- 
dividual, is guilty of a crime, abuses its strength, and by acting 
on the law of the strongest breaks up the foundations of society; 
that action by the citizens in person, in affairs within their reach 
and competence, and in all others by representatives, chosen im- 
mediately, and removable by themselves, constitutes the essence 
of a republic ; that all governments are more or less Republican 



236 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

in proportion as their principle enters more or less into their 
composition; and that a government by representation is ca- 
pable of extension over a greater surface of country than one 
of any other form. These, my friend, are the essentials in 
which you and I agree; however, in our zeal for their mainte- 
nance, we may be perplexed and divaricate, as to the structure 
of society most likely to secure them. (To Dupont de Nemours, 
1816. C VL, 591.) 

Grand Juries. — Grand juries are the Constitutional inquisi- 
tors and informers of the country ; they are scattered everywhere, 
see everything, see it while they suppose themselves mere pri- 
vate persons, and not with the prejudiced eye of a permanent 
and systematic spy. Their information is on oath, is public, 
it is in the vicinage of the party charged, and can be at once 
refuted. These officers, taken only occasionally from among 
the people, are familiar to them, the office respected and the 
experience of centuries has shewn that it is safely intrusted with 
our character, property and liberty. (From an opinion sub- 
mitted to the Attorney-General, 1793. F. VI., 245.) 

Great Britain. — The spirit in which she [Britain] wages war, 
does not seem the legitimate offspring either of science or civil- 
ization. The sun of her glory is fast descending to the horizon. 
Her philosophy has crossed the channel, her freedom the At- 
lantic, and herself seems passing to that awful dissolution whose 
issue is not given human foresight to scan. (From "Notes on 
Virginia," 1782. F. III., 170.) 

Grief. — I have often wondered for what good end the sensa- 
tion of grief could be intended. All other passions, w^ithin 
proper bounds, have a useful object. And the perfection of 
the moral character is, not in a stoical apathy, so hypocritically 
vaunted, and so truly too, because impossible, but in a just 
equilibrium of all the passions. I wish the pathologist then 
would tell us what is the use of grief in the economy, and of 
what good it is the cause, proximate or remote. (To John 
Adams, 1816. C. VI., 575.) 

Habeas Corpus. — The benefits of the writ of Habeas Corpus 
shall be extended, by the Legislature, to every person within 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 237 

this State, and without fee, and shall be so facilitated that no 
person may be detained in prison more than ten days after he 
shall have demanded and been refused such a writ by the judge 
appointed by law * * * ^or more than ten days after such 
writ shall have been served on the person detaining him, and 
no order given, or due examination, for its remandment or dis- 
charge. (From a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1782. 
F. III., 332.) 

Habeas Corpus. — Why suspend the Habeas Corpus in insur- 
rections and rebellions? If public safety requires that the Gov- 
ernment should have a man imprisoned on less probable testi- 
mony in those than in other emergencies, let him be taken and 
tried, retaken and retried, while the necessity continues, only 
giving him redress against the Government for damages. Ex- 
amine the history of England, See how few of the cases of the 
suspension of the Habeas Corpus law have been worthy of that 
suspension. They have been either real treason wherein the 
parties might as well have been charged at once, or sham plots 
where it was shameful they should ever have been suspected. 
Yet for the few cases wherein the suspension of the Habeas 
Corpus has done real good, that operation is now become habit- 
ual, and the minds of the nation almost prepared to live under its 
constant suspension. (To James Madison, 1788. F. V., 46.) 

Habits of Jefferson. — I live so much like other people, that 
I might refer to ordinary life as the history of my own. Like my 
friend the Doctor, I have lived temperately, eating little animal 
food, and that not as an aliment, so much as a condiment, for 
the vegetables, which constitute my principle diet. I double, 
however, the Doctor's glass and a half of wine, and even treble 
it with a friend; but halve its effects by drinking the weak wines 
only. The ardent wines I cannot drink, nor do I use ardent 
spirits in any form. Malt liquors and cider are my table drinks, 
and my breakfast, like that also of my friend, is of tea and 
coffee. I have been blest with organs of digestion which accept 
and concoct, without ever munnuring. whatever the palate 
chooses to consign to them, and I hr.ve not yet lost a tooth by 
age. I was a hard student until I entered on the business of 



238 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

life, the duties of which have no idle time to those disposed to 
fulfill them; and now, retired, and at the age of seventy-six, I 
am again a hard student. Indeed, my fondness for reading and 
study revolts me from the drudgery of letter writing. And a 
stiff wrist, the consequence of an early dislocation, makes writ- 
ing both slow and painful. I am not so regular in my sleep 
as the Doctor says he was, devoting to it from five to eight 
hours, according as my company or the book I am reading 
interests me; and I never go to bed without an hour, or a 
half hour's previous reading of something moral, whereon to 
ruminate in the intervals of sleep. But wdiether I retire to bed 
early or late, I rise with the sun. I use spectacles at night, 
but not necessarily in the day, unless in reading small print. 
My hearing is distinct in particular conversation, but con- 
fused when several voices cross each other, which unfits me for 
the society of the table. I have been more fortunate than my 
friend in the article of health. So free from catarrhs that I have 
not had one, (in the breast, I mean) on an average of eight or 
ten years through life. I ascribe this exemption partly to the 
habit of bathing my feet in cold water ever}'^ morning, for 
sixty years past. A fever of more than twenty-four hours I 
have not had above two or three times in my life. A periodical 
headache has affiicted me occasionally, once, perhaps, in six or 
eight years, for two or three weeks at a time, which seems now 
to have left me; and except on a late occasion of indisposition, 
I enjoy good health; too feeble, indeed, to walk much, but 
riding without fatigue six or eight miles a day and sometimes 
thirty or forty. I may end these egotisms, therefore, as I began, 
by saying that my life has been so much like that of other 
people, that I might say with Horace, to every one "nomine 
mutato, narratur fabula de te." (To Doctor Vine Utley, 18 19. 
C VII., 116.) 

Hamilton. — But Hamilton was not only a monarchist but for 
a monarchy bottomed on corruption. In proof of this, I will 
relate an anecdote for the truth of which I attest the God 
who made me. Before the President set out on his Southern 
tour in April, 1791, he addressed a letter of the fourth of that 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 239 

month, from Mount Vernon, to the Secretaries of State, Treas- 
ury, and War, desiring- that if any serious and important cases 
should arise during his absence they would consult and act on 
them. And he requested that the Vice-President should also 
be consulted. This was the only occasion in which that officer 
was ever requested to take part in a Cabinet question. Some 
occasions for consultation arising, I invited these gentlemen 
(and the Attorney-General, as well as I remember) to dine with 
me, in order to confer on the subject. After the cloth was re- 
moved, and our question agreed and dismissed, conversation 
began on other matters, and by some circumstance was led to 
the British Constitution on which Mr. Adams observed, "purge 
that Constitution of its corruption, and give tO' its popular 
branch equality of representation, and it would be the most per- 
fect Constitution ever devised by the wit of man." Hamilton 
paused and said, "purge it of its corruption and give to its pop- 
ular branch equality of representation and it would become an 
impracticable government ; as it stands at present, with all its 
supposed defects, it is the most perfect government which ever 
existed." And this was assuredly the exact line which separated 
the political creed of these two gentlem.en. The one was for 
two hereditary branches, and an honest elective one; the other 
for an hereditar}^ king with a House of Lords and Commons 
corrupted to his will, and standing between him and the people. 
Hamilton has indeed a singular character. Of acute under- 
standing, disinterested, honest, and honorable in all private 
transactions, amiable in society, and duly valuing- virtue in 
private life, yet sO' bewitched and pen^erted by the British ex- 
ample as to be under thorough conviction that corruption was 
essential to the government of a nation. (Anas, 1791. C. 
IX., 96.) 

Hamilton. — That I have utterly in my private conversations 
disapproved of the system of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
Alexander Hamilton, I acknowledge and avow; and this was 
not a merely speculative difference. His system flowed from 
principles adverse to liberty and was calculated to undermine 
and demolish the republic, by creating an influence of his de- 



240 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

partment over the members of the Legislature. I saw this in- 
fluence actually produced, and its first fruits to be the establish- 
ment of the great outlines of his project by the votes of the 
very persons who, having swallowed his bait, were laying them- 
selves out to profit by his plans; and that had these persons 
withdrawn as those interested in a question ever should, the 
vote of the disinterested majority was clearly the reverse of what 
they made it. These were no longer then the votes of the repre- 
sentatives of the people, but of deserters from the rights and 
interests of the people. (To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 102.) 

Hamilton. — My objection to the Constitution was that it 
■wanted a bill of rights securing freedom of religion, freedom 
of the press, freedom from standing armies, trial by jury, and 
a constant Habeas Corpus act. Colonel Hamilton's was that it 
■wanted a king and house of lords. The sense of America has 
approved my objection and added the bill of rights, not the king 
and lords. I also thought a longer term of service, insusceptible 
of renewal would have made a President more independent. 
My country has thought otherwise, and I have acquiesced 
implicitly. He wishes the g^eneral government should have 
power to make laws binding the States in all cases whatever. 
Our country has thought otherwise. Has he acquiesced? 
(To Washington, 1792, F. VI., 105.) 

Hamilton. — Though I see the pen of the Secretary of Treas- 
ury plainly in the attack on me, yet since he has not chosen to 
put his name to it, I am not free to notice it as his. I have 
preserved through life a resolution set in a very early part of it, 
never to write in a public paper without subscribing my name, 
and not to engage openly an adversary who does not let him- 
self be seen in staking all against nothing. The indecency too 
of newspapers squabbling between two public ministers, beside 
my own sense of it, has drawn something like an injunction 
from another quarter (Washington). Every fact alleged under 
the signature of "An American" (Hamilton) as to myself is 
false, and can be proved so; and perhaps will be one day. But 
for the present lying and scribbling must be free to those mean 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 24I 

enough to deal in them. (To Edmund Randolph, 1792. F. VI., 
112.) 

Hamilton. — Hamilton is really a colossus to the anti-Repub- 
lican party. Without numbers he is a host within himself. They 
have got themselves into a defile where they might be finished; 
but too much security on the Republican part will give time to 
his talents and indefatigableness to extricate them. We have 
had only middling performances to oppose him. In truth when 
he comes forward there is nobody but yourself who can meet 
him. (To James Madison, 1795. F. VII., 32.) 

Hamilton. — I do not at all wonder at the condition in which 
the finances of the United States are found. Hamilton's object 
from the beginning was to throw them into forms which should 
be utterly indecipherable. I ever said he did not understand their 
condition himself nor was able to give a clear view of the excess 
of our debts beyond our credits, nor whether we were diminish- 
ing or increasing the debt. * * * jf ^j-. Gallatin would 
undertake to reduce this chaos to order, present us with a clear 
view of our finances and put them in a form as simple as they 
will admit he will merit immortal honor. The accounts of the 
United States ought to be and may be made as simple as those 
of a common farmer and capable of being understood by com- 
mon farmers. (To James Madison, 1796. F. VII., 61.) 

Hamilton. — Hamilton set out on a different plan. In order 
that he might have the entire government of his machine, he 
determined so to complicate it as that neither the President 
or Congress should be able to understand it, or to control him. 
He succeeded in doing this, not only beyond their reach, but so 
that he at length could not unravel it himself. He gave to the 
debt, in the first instance, in funding it, the most artificial 
and mysterious form he could devise. He then moulded up his 
appropriations of a number of scraps and remnants, many of 
which were nothing at all, and applied them to dififerent objects 
in reversion and remainder, until the whole system was involved 
in impenetrable fog; and while he was giving himself the airs 
of providing for the payment of the debt, he left himself free 



242 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to add to i^ continually, as he did in fact instead of paying it. 
(To Albert Gallatin, 1802. F. VIIL, 140.) 

Health. — I should have performed the office of but half a 
friend were I to confine myself to the improvement of the mind 
only. Knowledge indeed is a desirable, a lovely possession, but 
I do not scruple to say that health is more so. It is of little 
consequence to store the mind with science if the body be per- 
mitted to become debilitated. If the body be feeble, the mind 
will not be strong. The sovereign invigorator of the body is 
exercise and of all exercises, walking is the best. (To Thomas 
Mann Randolph, 1786. F. IV., 293.) 

Health. — An attention to health should take place of every 
other object. The time necessary to secure this by active exer- 
cises, should be devoted to it in preference tO' every other pur- 
suit. I know the difficulty with which a studious man tears 
himself from his studies at any given moment of the day. But 
his happiness and that of his family depend on it. The most 
uninformed mind with a healthy body, is happier than the 
wisest valetudinarian. (To Thomas Mann Randolph, 1787. F. 
IV., 406.) 

History. — The most effectual means of preventing tyranny 
is to illuminate, as far as practicable, the minds of the people 
at large, and more especially to give them knowledge of those 
facts, which history exhibiteth, that possessed thereby of the 
experience of other ages and countries, they may be able to 
know ambition under all its shapes, and prompt tO' exert their 
natural powers to defeat its purposes. (From a Bill for the 
Diffusion of Knowledge, 1779. F. II., 221.) 

HiS'^roRY. — But of all the views of this law relating tO' popular 
education none is more important, none more legitimate, than 
that of rendering the people the safe, as they are the ultimate, 
guardians of their own liberties. For this purpose the reading 
in the first stage, where they will receive their whole education, 
is proposed to be chiefly historical. History, by apprising them 
of the past, will enable them to judge of the future; it will 
avail them of the experience of other times and other nations; 

will qualify them as judges of the actions and designs of men; 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 243 

it will enable them to know ambition under every disguise it 
may assume; and knowing it to defeat its views. (From "Notes 
on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 254.) 

History. — While you are attending these courses you can 
proceed by yourself in a regular series of historical reading. It 
would be waste of time to attend a professor of this. It is to 
be acquired from books, and if you pursue it by yourself you can 
accommodate it to your reading so as to fill up those chasms of 
time not otherwise appropriated. There are portions of the 
day, too, when the mind should be eased, particularly after 
dinner it should be applied to lighter occupations; history is of 
this kind. It exercises principally the memory. Reflection also 
indeed is necessary but not generally in a laborious degree. 
(To Thomas Mann Randolph, 1786. F. IV., 291.) 

History. — You say I must go to writing history. While in 
public life I had not time, and now that I am retired, I am past 
the time. To write history requires a whole life of observation, 
of inquiry, of labor and correction. (To Dr. J. B. Stuart, 1817. 
C. VII., 65.) 

Home. — These reveries alleviate the toil and inquietudes of 
my present situation, and leave me always impressed with the 
desire of being home once more, and of exchanging labor, envy, 
and malice for ease, domestic occupation, and domestic love and 
society; where I may once more be happy with you, with Mr. 
Randolph and dear little Anne, with whom even Socrates might 
ride on a stick without being ridiculous. (To Martha Jefferson 
Randolph, 1792. F. V., 422.) 

Homer. — Homer and Virgil have been the rapture of every 
age and nation; they are read with enthusiasm in their originals 
by those wdio can read the originals, and in the translations by 
those who cannot. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. 
III., 168.) 

Immigration. — The present desire of America is to produce 
rapid population by as great importation of foreigners as pos- 
sible. But is this founded in good policy? The advantage 
proposed is the multiplication of numbers. But are there no 
inconveniences to be thrown into the scale against this ad- 



244 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

vantage? It is for the happiness of those united in society to 
harmonize as much as possible in matters which they must of 
necessity transact together. Civil government being the sole 
object of forming societies, its administration must be con- 
ducted by common consent. Every species of government has 
its specific principles. Ours perhaps are more peculiar than 
those of any other in the universe. It is a composition of the 
finest principles of the English Constitution, with others de- 
rived from natural right and natural reason. To these nothing 
can be more opposed than the maxims of absolute monarchies. 
Yet from such are we to expect the greatest number of emi- 
grants. They will bring with them the principles of govern- 
ments they leave, imbibed in their early youth; or, if able to 
throw them off, it will be in exchange for an unbounded 
licentiousness, passing as is usual from one extreme to another. 
These principles, with their language, they will transmit to their 
children. In proportion to their numbers, they will share with 
us in the legislation. They will infuse into it their spirit, warp 
and bias its directions, and render it a heterogeneous, incoherent, 
distracted mass. (From ''Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 
190.) 

Immortality. — I will not, therefore, by useless condolences, 
open fresh the sluices of your grief, nor, although mingling 
sincerely my tears with yours, will I say a word more where 
words are vain, but that it is of some comfort to us both, that 
the time is not very distant, at which we are to deposit in the 
same cerement, our sorrows and sufifering bodies, and to ascend 
in essence to an ecstatic meeting with the friends we have loved 
and lost, and whom we shall still love and never lose again. 
(To John Adams, 1818. C. VII., 107.) 

Impressment. — The simplest rule will be that the vessel 
being American shall be evidence that the seamen on board her 
are such. If they apprehend that our vessels might thus be- 
come asylums for the fugitives of their own nation from impress 
gangs, the number of men to be protected by a vessel may be 
limited by her tonnage, and one or two officers only permitted 
to enter the vessel in order to examine the numbers on board; 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 245 

but no press-gang should be allowed to go on board an Ameri- 
can vessel till after it shall be found that there are more than 
their stipulated number on board, nor till after the master shall 
have refused to deliver the supernumeraries (to be named by 
himself) to the press officer who has come on board for that 
purpose, and even then, the American consul should be called 
in. (From Instructions to British Minister, 1792. F. VI., 76.) 

Impressment. — It is proposed, I observe, to register seamen 
and give them certificates of citizenship to protect them from 
foreign impressment. But these certificates will be lost in a 
thousand ways; a sailor will neglect to take his certificate; he 
is wet twenty times in a voyage; if he goes ashore without it, 
he is impressed; if with it, he gets drunk, it is lost, stolen from 
him, taken from him, and then the want of it gives authority 
to impress which does not exist now. After ten years' attention 
to the subject I have never been able to devise anything effectual 
but the circumstances of an American bottom to be made ipso 
facto, a protection for a number of seamen proportioned to 
her tonnage. (To William Giles, 1796. F. VII., 65.) 

Impressment. — Our particular and separate grievance is only 
the impressment of our citizens. We must sacrifice the last 
dollar and drop of blood to rid us of that badge of slavery; and 
it must rest with England alone to say whether it is worth 
eternal war, for eternal it must be if she holds to the wrong. 
She will probably find that the six thousand citizens she took 
from us by impressment have already cost her ten thousand 
guineas a man, and will cost her, in addition, the half of that 
annually, during the continuance of the war, besides the cap- 
tures on the ocean, and the loss of our commerce. She might 
certainly find cheaper means of manning her fleet, or, if to be 
manned at this expense, her fleet will break her down. (To 
Mr. Crawford, 1815. C. VI., 418.) 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS. 

"Friends and Fellow-Citizens: 

"Called upon to undertake the duties of the first executive 
office of our countr>', I avail myself of the presence of that per- 



246 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

tion of my fellow-citizens which is here assembled, to express 
my grateful thanks for the favor with which they have been 
pleased to look towards me, to declare a sincere consciousness, 
that the task is above my talents, and that I approach it with 
those anxious and awful presentiments, which the greatness of 
the charge, and the weakness of my powers, so justly inspire. 
A rising nation, spread over a wide and fruitful land, traversing 
all the seas with the rich productions of their industry, engaged 
in commerce with nations v.dio feci pov/er and forget right, 
advancing rapidly to destinies beyond the reach of mortal eye; 
when I contemplate these transcendent objects, and see the 
honor, the happiness, and the hopes of this beloved country 
committed to the issue and the auspices of this day, I shrink 
from the contemplation, and humble myself before the magni- 
tude of the undertaking. Utterly, indeed, should I despair, did 
not the presence of many, whom I here see, remind me, that, 
in the other high authorities provided by our Constitution, I 
shall find resources of wisdom, of virtue, and of zeal, on which 
to rely under all difficulties. To you, then, gentlemen, vrho are 
charged with the sovereign functions of legislation, and to those 
associated with you, I look with encouragement for that guid- 
ance and support which may enable us to steer with safety the 
vessel in which we are all embarked, amidst the conflicting 
elements of a troubled world. 

"During the contest of opinion through w^hich we have 
passed, the animation of discussions and of exertions has some- 
times worn an aspect which might impose on strangers unused 
to think freely, and to speak and to write what they think; but 
this being now decided by the voice of the nation, announced 
according to the rules of the Constitution, all will of course 
arrange themselves under the will of the law, and unite in 
common efforts for the common good. All too will bear in 
mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority 
is in all cases to prevail, that will, to be rightful, must be reason- 
able; that the minority possess their equal rights, which equal 
laws must protect, and to violate which would be oppression. 
Let us, then, fellow-citizens, unite with one heart and one 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 247 

mind, let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and 
affection without which liberty, and even life itself, are but 
dreary things. And let us reflect, that having banished from 
our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so 
long bled and sufifered, we have yet gained little, if we counte- 
nance a political intolerance, as despotic as wicked, and capable 
of as bitter and bloody persecutions. During the throes and 
convulsions of the ancient vrorld, during the agonizing spasms 
of infuriated man, seeking through blood and slaughter his 
long-lost liberty, it was not wonderful that the agitation of the 
billows should reach even this distant and peaceful shore; that 
this should be felt and feared by some, and less by others; and 
should divide opinions as to measures of safety; but every 
difference of opinion is not a difference of principle. We have 
called by different names brethren of the same principle. \Ve 
are all Republicans; we are all Federalists. If there be any 
among us who would wish to dissolve this Union, or to change 
its Republican form, let them stand undisturbed as monuments 
of the safety with which error of opinion may be tolerated, 
where reason is left free to combat it. I know, indeed, that 
some honest men fear that a Republican government cannot 
be strong; that this government is not strong enough. But 
would the honest patriot, in the full tide of successful experi- 
ment, abandon a government which has so far kept us free and 
firm, on the theoretic and visionary fear, that this government, 
the world's best hope, may, by possibility, want energy to pre- 
serve itself? I trust not. I believe this, on the contrary, the 
strongest government on earth. I believe it the only one, where 
ever}' man, at the call of the law, would fly to the standard of 
the law, and would meet the invasions of the public order as his 
own personal concern. Sometimes it is said, that man cannot 
be trusted with the government of himself. Can he then be 
trusted with the government of others?. Or, have we found 
angels in the form of kings, to govern him? Let history answer 
this question. 

"Let us, then, with courage and confidence, pursue our own 
Federal and Republican principles; our attachment to union 



248 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

and representative government. Kindly separated by nature 
and a wide ocean from the exterminating havoc of one-quarter 
of the globe; too high-minded to endure the degradations of the 
others; possessing a chosen country, with room enough for 
our descendants to the thousandth and thousandth generation; 
entertaining a due sense of our equal right to the use of our 
own faculties, to the acquisition of our own industry, to honor 
and confidence from our fellows-citizens, resulting not from 
birth, but from our actions and our sense of them; enlightened 
by a benign religion, professed indeed and practiced in various 
forms, yet all of them inculcating honesty, truth, temperance, 
gratitude, and the love of man; acknowledging and adoring an 
overruling Providence, wdiich, by all its dispensations, proves 
that it delights in the happiness of man here, and his greater 
happiness hereafter; w'ith all these blessings, what more is 
necessary to make us a happy and prosperous nation? Still one 
thing more, fellow-citizens, a wnse and frugal government which 
shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them 
free to regulate their own pursuit of industry and improvement, 
and shall not take from the mouth the bread it has earned. 
This is the sum of good government; and this is necessary to 
close the circle of our felicities. 

"About to enter, fellow-citizens, on the exercise of duties 
which comprehend everything dear and valuable to you, it is 
proper you should understand what I deem the essential prin- ■ 
ciples of our government, and consequently, those which ought 
to shape its administration. I will compress them within the 
narrowest compass they will bear, stating the general principle, 
but not all its limitations. Equal and exact justice to all men, 
of whatever state or persuasion, religious or political; peace, 
comxmerce, and honest friendship with all nations, entangling" 
alliances with none; the support of the State governments in 
all their rights, as the most competent administrations for our 
domestic concerns, and the surest bulwarks against anti-Repub- 
lican tendencies; the preservation of the general government in 
its whole constitutional vigor, as the sheet-anchor of our peace 
at home, and safety abroad; a jealous care of the right of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 249 

election by the people, a mild and safe corrective of abuses which 
are lopped by the sword of revolution where peaceable remedies 
are unprovided; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the 
majority, the vital principle of the republics, from which there 
is no appeal but to force, the vital principle and immediate 
parent of despotism; a well-disciplined militia, our best reliance 
in peace, and for the first moments of war, till regulars may 
relieve them; the supremacy of the civil over the military 
authority; economy in the public expense, that labor might 
be lightly burdened; the honest payment of our debts and 
sacred preservation of the public faith ; encouragement of agri- 
culture, and of commerce as its handmaid; the diffusion of 
information, and arraignment of all abuses at the bar of public 
reason; freedom of religion; freedom of the press; and freedom 
of person, under the protection of the habeas corpus; and trial 
by juries impartially selected. These principles form the bright 
constellation which has gone before us, and guided our steps 
through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of 
our sages, and blood of our heroes, have been devoted to their 
attainment; they should be the creed of our political faith, the 
text of civic instruction, the touchstone by which to try the 
services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in 
moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps, 
and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and 
safety. 

"I repair, then, fellow-citizens, to the post you have assigned 
me. With experience enough in subordinate ofifices to have 
seen the difficulties of this, the greatest of all, I have learned 
to expect that it will rarely fall to the lot of imperfect man, to 
retire from this station with the reputation and the favor which 
bring him to it. Without pretensions to that high confidence 
you reposed in our first and greatest revolutionary character, 
whose pre-eminent services had entitled him to the first place 
in his country's love, and destined for him the fairest page in the 
volume of faithful history, I ask so much confidence only as m.ay 
give firmness and effect to the legal administration of your 
affairs. I shall often go wrong through defect of judgment. 



250 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

When right, I shall often be thought wrong by those whose 
positions will not command a view of the whole ground. I ask 
your indulgence for my own errors, which will never be inten- 
tional; and your support against the errors of others, who may 
condemn w^hat they would not, if seen in all its parts. The 
approbation implied by your suffrage, is a great consolation to 
me for the past; and my future solicitude will be, to retain the 
good opinion of those who have bestov/ed it in advance, to con- 
ciliate that of others, by doing them all the good in my power, 
and to be instrumental to the happiness and freedom of all, 

"Relying, then, on the patronage of your good-will, I advance 
with obedience to the work, ready to retire from it whenever 
you become sensible how much better choice it is in your power 
to make. And may that Infinite Power which rules the des- 
tinies of the universe, lead our councils to what is best, and give 
them a favorable issue for your peace and prosperity." 

INAUGURAL ADDRESS (SECOND). 

On taking this station on a former occasion I declared the 
principles on which I believed it my duty to administer the 
afifairs of our Commonwealth. My conscience tells me that I 
have, on every occasion, acted up to that declaration, according 
to its obvious import and to the understanding of every candid 
mind. 

In the transaction of your foreign affairs we have endeavored 
to cultivate the friendship of all nations, and especially of those 
with which we have the most important relations. We have 
done them justice on all occasions, favored where favor was 
lawful and cherished mutual interests and intercourse on fair 
and equal terms. We are firmly convinced, and we act on that 
conviction, that with nations, as with individuals, our interests 
soundly calculated will ever be found inseparable from our moral 
duties; and history bears witness to the fact that a just nation 
is trusted on its word when recourse is had to armaments and 
wars to bridle others. 

At home, fellow-citizens, you best know where we have done 
well or ill. The suppression of unnecessary offices, of useless 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON • 25 1 

establishments and expenses, enabled us to discontinue our in- 
ternal taxes. These, covering our land with offices and opening 
our doors to their intrusions, had already begun that process 
of domiciliary vexation which, once entered, is scarcely to be 
restrained from reaching successively every article of produce 
and property. If among these taxes some minor ones fell, which 
had not been inconvenient, it was because their amount would 
not have paid the officers who collected them, and because, if 
they had any merit, the State authorities might adopt them 
instead of others less approved. 

This remaining revenue on the consumption of foreign articles 
is paid cheerfully l)y those who can afford to add foreign lux- 
uries to domestic comforts, being collected on our seaboard and 
frontiers only and incorporated wath the transactions of our 
mercantile citizens, it may be the pleasure and the pride of an 
American to ask: What farmer, what mechanic, what laborer 
ever sees a tax-gatherer of the United States? These contribu- 
tions enable us to support the current expenses of the govern- 
ment; to fulfil contracts with foreign nations; to extinguish 
the native right of soil within our limits; to extend those limits; 
and to apply such a surplus to our public debt as places, at a 
short day, their final redemption; and that redemption once 
effected, the revenue thereby liberated may, by a just repartition 
of it among the States and a corresponding amendment of the 
Constitution, be applied in time of peace to rivers, canals, roads, 
arts, manufactures, education and other great objects within 
each State. In time of war, if injustice by ourselves or others 
must sometimes produce war, increased as the same revenue 
will be by increased population and consumption and aided by 
other resources reserved for that crisis, it may meet within the 
year all the expenses of the year, without encroaching on the 
rights of future generations by burdening them with the debts 
of the past. War will, then, be but a suspension of useful 
works; and a return to a state of peace, a return to the progress 
of improvement. 

I have said, fellow-citizens, that the income reserved had 
enabled us to extend our limits; but that extension may pes- 



252 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

sibly pay for itself before we are called on; and, in the meantime, 
may keep down the accruing interest; in all events, it will 
replace the advances we shall have made. I know that the 
acquisition of Louisiana has been disapproved by some, from a 
candid apprehension that the enlargement of our territory 
would endanger its union. But who can limit the event to 
which the federative principle may operate effectively? The 
larger our association, the less will it be shaken by local pas- 
sions; and, in any view, is it not better that the opposite bank 
of the Mississippi should be settled by our own brethren and 
children, than by strangers of another family? With which 
should we be most likely to live in harmony and friendly inter- 
course? 

In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exer- 
cise is placed by the Constitution independent of the powers of 
the general government. I have therefore undertaken, on no 
occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but 
have left them, as the Constitution found them, under the direc- 
tion and discipline of the Church or State authorities acknowl- 
edged by the several religious societies. 

The aboriginal inhabitants of these countries I have regarded 
with the commiseration their history inspires. Endowed with 
the faculties and the rights of men, breathing an ardent love of 
liberty and independence, and occupying a country which left 
them no desire but to be undisturbed, the stream of overflowing 
population from other regions directed itself on these shores. 
Without power to divert, or habits to contend against it, they 
have been overwhelmed by the current, or driven before it. 
Now reduced within limits too narrow for the hunter state, 
humanity enjoins us to teach them agriculture and the domestic 
arts; to encourage them to that industry which alone can 
enable them to maintain their place in existence; and to pre- 
pare them in time for that state of society which, to bodily 
comforts, adds the improvement of the mind and morals. We 
have therefore liberally furnished them with the implements of 
husbandry and household use; we have placed among them 
instructors in the arts of first necessity; and they are covered 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 253 

with the aegis of the law against aggressors from among our- 
selves. 

But the endeavor to enlighten them on the fate which awaits 
their present course of life, to induce them to exercise their 
reason, follow its dictates and change their pursuits with the 
change of circumstances, have powerful obstacles to encounter. 
They are combated by the habits of their bodies, prejudices of 
their minds, ignorance, pride and influence of interested and 
crafty individuals among them, who feel themselves something 
in the present order of things, and fear to become nothing in 
any other. These persons inculcate a sanctimonious reverence 
for the customs of their ancestors; that whatsoever they did 
must be done through all time; that reason is a false guide, 
and to advance under its counsel, in their physical, moral or 
political condition, is perilous innovation; that their duty is to 
remain as their Creator made them, ignorance being safety, and 
knowledge being full of danger; in short, my friends, among 
them is seen the action and counteraction of good sense and 
bigotry; they too have their anti-philosophers, who find an 
interest in keeping things in their present state, who dread 
reformation, and exert all their faculties to maintain the as- 
cendency of habit over the duty of improving their reason and 
obeying its mandates. 

In giving these outlines I do not mean, fellow-citizens, to 
arrogate to myself the merit of the measures; that is due, in the 
first place, to the reflecting character of our citizens at large, 
who, by the weight of public opinion, influence and strengthen 
the public measures; it is due to the sound discretion with which 
they select from among themselves those to whom they confide 
the legislative duties; it is due to the zeal and wisdom of the 
characters thus selected, who lay the foundations of public hap- 
piness in wholesome laws, the execution of which alone remains 
for others; and it is due to the able and faithful auxiliaries, 
whose patriotism has associated with me in the executive 
functions. 

During the course of administration, and in order to disturb' 
it, the artillery of the press has been levelled against us, charged 



254 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

with whatsoever its Hcentiousness could devise or dare. These 
abuses of an institution so important to freedom and science 
are deeply to be regretted, inasmuch as they tend to lessen its 
usefulness and to sap its safety; they might, indeed, have been 
corrected by the wholesome punishments reserved and provided 
by the laws of the several States against falsehood and defama- 
tion; but public duties more urgent press on the time of public 
servants, and the offenders have therefore been left to find their 
punishment in the public indignation. 

Nor was it uninteresting to the world, that an experiment 
should be fairly and fully made, whether freedom of discussion, 
unaided by power, is not sufficient for the propagation and pro- 
tection of truth? Whether a government, conducting itself in 
the true spirit of the Constitution, with zeal and purity, and 
doing no act w'hich it would be unwilling the whole world 
should witness, can be written down by falsehood and defama- 
tion? The experiment has been tried. You have witnessed the 
scene. Our fellow-citizens have looked on cool and collected. 
They saw the latest source from which these outrages pro- 
ceeded. They gathered around their public functionaries; and 
when the Constitution called them to the decision by suffrage 
they pronounced their verdict honorable to those who served 
them, and consolatory to the friend of man, who believes that 
he may be trusted with the control of his own affairs. 

No inference is here intended that the laws, provided by the 
State against false and defamatory publications, should not be 
enforced; he who has time renders a service to public morals 
and public tranquillity in reforming these abuses by the salutary 
coercions of the law. But the experiment is noted to prove 
that, since truth and reason have maintained their ground 
against false opinions, in league with false facts, the press, 
confined to truth, needs no other legal restraint. The public 
judgment will correct false reasonings and opinions, on a full 
hearing of all parties; and no other definite line can be drawn 
between the inestimable liberty of the press and its demoraliz- 
ing Hcentiousness. If there be still improprieties which this 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 255 

rule would not restrain, its supplement must be sought in the 
censorship of public opinion. 

Contemplating the union of sentiment now manifested so 
generally, as auguring harmony and happiness to our future 
course, I offer to our country sincere congratulations. With 
those, too, not yet rallied to the same point, the disposition to 
do so is gaining strength. Facts are piercing through the veil 
drawn over them; and our doubting brethren will at length see 
that the mass of their fellow-citizens, with whom they cannot yet 
resolve to act, as to principles and measures, think as they 
think, and desire what they desire; that our wish, as well as 
theirs, is that the public efiforts may be directed honestly to the 
public good; that peace be cultivated; civil and religious lib- 
erty unassailed; law and order preserved; equality of rights 
maintained; and that state of property, equal or unequal, which 
results to every man from his own industry, or that of his 
father's. When satisfied of these views, it is not in human 
nature that they should not approve and support them. In the 
meantime, let us cherish them with patient affection; let us do 
them justice, and more than justice, in all competitions of 
interest; and we need not doubt that truth, reason, and their 
own interests will at length prevail, will gather them into the 
fold of their country, and will complete that entire union of 
opinion which gives to a nation the blessing of harmony, and 
the benefit of all its strength. 

I shall now enter on the duties to which my fellow-citizens 
have again called me, and shall proceed in the spirit of those 
principles which they have approved. I fear not that any 
motives of interest may lead me astray. I am sensible of no 
passion which could seduce me, knowingly, from the path of 
justice; but the weaknesses of human nature, and the limits 
of my own understanding, will produce errors of judgment, 
sometimes injurious to your interests. I shall need, therefore, 
all the indulgence which I have hitherto experienced from my 
constituents, Tlie want of it will certainly not lessen with 
increasing years. I shall need, too, the favor of that Being 
in whose hands we are; who led our fathers, as Israel of old. 



256 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

from their native land, and planted them in a country flowing- 
with all the necessaries and comforts of life; who has covered 
our infancy with His providence, and our riper years with His 
wisdom and power; and to whose goodness I ask you to join 
in supplications with me, that He will so enlighten the minds 
of your servants, guide their councils, and prosper their meas- 
ures, that whatsoever they do shall result in your good, and 
■shall secure to you the peace, friendship, and approbation of 
all nations. (Annals of Congress, Second Session, Eighth 
Congress, p. yy?) 

Independence. — Not only the principles of common-sense, 
■but the feelings of human nature, must be surrendered up before 
his Majesty's subjects here can be persuaded to believe that they 
hold their political existence at the will of a British Parliament. 
Shall these governments be dissolved, their property annihi- 
lated, and their people reduced to a state of nature at the im- 
perious breath of a body of men whom they never saw, in whom 
they never confided, and over whom they have no power of 
punishment or removal, let their crimes against American public 
be ever so great? Can any one reason be assigned why 160,000 
electors in the Island of Great Britain should give law to four 
millions in the States of America, every individual of whom 
is equal to every individual of them, in virtue, in understanding, 
and in bodily strength? (From "Summary View," 1774. F. 

I., 436.) 

Independence. — But we do not point out to his majesty the 
injustice of these acts, with intent to rest on that principle the 
cause of their nullity; but to show that experience confirms the 
propriety of those political principles which exempt us from 
the jurisdiction of the British Parliament. The true ground on 
which we declare these acts void is that the British Parliament 
has no right to exercise its authority over us. (From "A Sum- 
mary View," 1774. F. I., 434.) 

Independence. — The British Parliament has no right to inter- 
meddle with the support of civil government in the colonies. 
For us, not for them, has government been instituted here. 
* * * We conceive that v^'e alone are the judges of the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON' 257 

conditions, circumstances and situation of our people as the 
Parliament are of theirs. (From an address to Governor Dun- 
more of Virginia, 1775. F. I., 456.) 

Independence. — I suppose they, the Virginia Convention, 
will tell us what to say on the subject of independence, but hope 
respect will be expressed to the right of opinion in other colonies 
who may happen to differ from them. When at home I took 
great pains to inquire into the sentiments of the people on that 
head. In the upper counties I think I may safely say nine out of 
ten are for it. (To Thomas Nelson, 1776. F. II., 3.) 

Independence. — This Congress, bound by the voice of their 
constituents, which coincides with their own sentiments, have 
no power to enter into conference or to receive any propositions 
upon the subject of peace which do not as a preliminary ack- 
nowledge these States to be sovereign and independent; and 
whenever this shall have been authoritatively admitted on the 
part of Great Britain, they shall at all times and with that 
earnestness which the love of peace and justice inspires, be 
ready to enter into conference or treaty for the purpose of 
stopping the effusion of so much kindred blood. (From a reso- 
lution offered in Congress, 1776. F. II., 90.) 

Independence. — If any doubt has arisen as to me, my country 
will have my political creed in the form of a Declaration, &c., 
which I was lately directed to draw. This will give decisive 
proof that my own sentiment concurred with the vote they 
instructed me to give. (To William Flemming, July i, 1776. 

F. IL,4i.) 

Independence, Declaration of. — (From the fac-simile of 
Jefferson's own draft now in the State Department. The parts in 
italics were stricken out by Congress.) 

A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of 
America, in General Congress assembled. 

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary 
for one people to dissolve the political bands which have con- 
nected them with another, and to assume among the powers 
of the earth the separate and equal station to which the laws of 
nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the 



258 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes 
which impel them to the separation. 

We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are 
created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with 
inherent and inalienable rights ; that among these are life, liberty 
and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, govern- 
ments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from 
the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of govern- 
ment becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the 
people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new govern- 
ment, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing 
its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to 
effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate 
that governments long established should not be changed for 
light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath 
shown mankind are more disposed to^ suffer while evils are 
sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to 
which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses 
and usurpations begun at a distinguished period and pursuing 
invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them 
under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty to 
throw off such government, and to> provide new guards for 
their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of 
these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains 
them to expunge their former system of government. The 
history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of 
unremitting injuries and usurpations, among zuhich appears 
no solitary fact to contradict the uniform tenor of the rest, hut 
all have in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny 
over these States. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a 
candid world, for the truth of ivhich we pledge a faith yet un- 
sullied by falsehood. 

He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and 
necessary for the public good. 

He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate 
and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 259 

till his assent should be obtained; and, when so suspended, he 
has utterly neglected to attend to them. 

He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of 
large districts of people, unless those people would rehnquish 
the right of representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable 
to them, and formidable to tyrants only. 

He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, 
uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public 
records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance 
with his measures. 

He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly and con- 
tinually for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the 
rights of the people. 

He has refused for a long time after such dissolutions to 
cause others to be elected, whereby the legislative powers, 
incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large 
for their exercise, the State remaining, in the meantime, exposed 
to all the dangers of invasion from without and convulsions 
within. 

He has endeavored to prevent the population of these States; 
for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of for- 
eigners, refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations 
hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of 
lands. 

He has suffered the administration of justice totally to cease 
in some of these States, refusing his assent to laws for establish- 
ing judiciary powers. 

He has made our judges dependent on his w^ill alone for the 
tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their 
salaries. 

He has erected a multitude of new offices, by a self-assumed 
pozver and sent hither swarms of new officers to harass our 
people and eat out their substance. 

He has kept among us in times of peace standing armies, 
and ships of war without the consent of our Legislatures. 

He has effected to render the military independent of, and 
superior to, the civil power. 



26o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction 
foreign to our constitutions and acknowledged by our laws, 
giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation for 
quartering large bodies of troops among us; for protecting 
them by a mock trial from punishment for any murders which 
they should commit on the inhabitants of these States; for 
cutting off our trade w^ith all parts of the world; for imposing 
taxes on us without our consent; for depriving us of the benefits 
of trial by jury; for transporting us beyond seas to be tried 
for pretended offenses; for abolishing the free system of English 
laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary 
government, and enlarging its boundaries, so" as to render it 
at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the 
same absolute rule into these States; for taking away our char- 
ters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundament- 
ally the forms of our governments; for suspending our own 
Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to 
legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. 

He has abdicated government here, zvithdrawing his gov- 
ernors, and declaring its out of Jiis allegiance and protection. 

He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our 
towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. 

He is at this time transporting large armies of foreign mer- 
cenaries to complete the work of death, desolation, and tyranny 
already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy un- 
worthy the head of a civilized nation. 

He has constrained our fellow-citizens taken captive on the 
high seas to bear arms against their country, to become the 
executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves 
by their hands. 

He has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontier 
the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare 
is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and condi- 
tions of existence. 

He has incited treasonable insurrections of our fellozv-citi^ens 
zvith the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation of property. 

He has waged cruel zvar against human nature itself, violating 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 261 

its most sacred rights of life and liberty in the persons of a 
distant people who never offended him, captivating and carrying 
them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable 
death in their transportation hither. This piratical zvarfare, the 
opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the CHRISTIAN 
King of Great Britain. Determined to keep open a market 
where men should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his 
negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit 
or to restrain this execrable commerce. And that this assem- 
blage of horrors might want no fact of distinguished die, he 
is now exciting those very people to rise in arms among ns, and 
to purchase liberty of ivhich he has deprived them, by murdering 
the people on whom he also obtruded them; thus paying off 
former crimes committed against the liberties of one people zuith 
crimes zvhich lie urges them to commit against the lives of 
another. 

In every stage of these oppressions we have petitioned for 
redress in the most humble terms; our repeated petitions have 
been answered only by repeated injuries. 

A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which 
may define a tyrant is unfit to be the ruler of a people zvho 
mean to be free. Future ages zinll scarcely believe that the 
hardiness of one man adventured, zvithin the short compass of 
tzvelve years only, to lay a foundation so broad and so undis- 
guised for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in principles 
of freedom. 

Nor have we been, wanting in attention to our British 
brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts 
by their legislature to extend a jurisdiction over these our 
States. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our 
emigration and settlement here, no one of zvhich could warrant 
so strange a pretension; that these zvere effected at the expense 
of our ozi'n blood and treasure, unassisted by the zcealth or 
the strengtJi of Great Britain; that in constituting indeed our 
several forms of government, we had adopted one conimoft 
king, thereby laying a foundation for perpetual league and 
amity zinth them; but that submission to their parliament zvas 



262 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

no part of our Constitution, nor ever in idea, if history may 
he credited; and we appealed to their native justice and mag- 
nanimity as zvcll as to the ties of our common kindred to 
disavoAV these usurpations which zvere likely to interrupt our 
connection and correspondence. They, too, have been deaf to 
the voice of justice and of consanguinity, and when occasions 
have been given them, by the regular course of their laws, of 
removing from their councils the disturbers of our harmony, 
they have, by tJieir free election, re-established them in power. 
At this very time, too, they arc permitting their chief magistrate 
to send over not only soldiers of our common blood, but 
ScotcJi and foreign mercenaries to invade and destroy us. These 
facts have given the last stab to agonising affection, and manly 
spirit bids us to renounce forever these unfeeling brethren. We 
must endeavor to forget our former love for them and hold 
them as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in zuar, in peace 
friends. We might have been a free and a great people to- 
gether; but a communication of grandeur and of freedom, it 
seems, is below their dignity. Be it so, since they will have it. 
The road to Jiappiness and to glory is open to us too. We will 
tread it apart from them, and acquiesce in the necessity which 
denounces our eternal separation. 

We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of 
America, in General Congress assembled, do in the name, and 
by the authority of the good people of these States, reject and 
renounce all allegiance and subjection to the Kings of Great 
Britain and all others who may hereafter claim by, through, or 
under them; we utterly dissolve all political connection zvhich 
may heretofore have subsisted bctzveen us and the people or 
Parliament of Great Britain; and, finally, we do assert and de- 
clare these Colonies to be free and independent States, and that 
as free and independent States, they have full power to levy war, 
conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to 
do all other acts and things which independent States may of 
right do. 

And for the support of this declaration, we mutually pledge 
to each other our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 263 

Independence. — Independence and the establishment of a 
new form of government, were not even in 1776 the objects of 
the people at large. The idea had not been opened to the 
mass of the people in April, much less can it be said that they 
had made up their minds in its favor. (From ''Notes on Vir- 
ginia," 1782. F. III., 226.) 

Indians. — No lands shall be appropriated until purchased of 
the Indian native proprietors; nor shall any purchases be made 
of them but on behalf of the public, by authority of acts of 
the General Assembly to be passed for every purchase specially. 
(From a proposed Constitution for Virginia. 1776. F. II., 25.) 

Indians. — I am of the opinion that the Government should 
firmly maintain this ground; that the Indians have a right to 
the occupation of their lands independent of the States within 
whose chartered lands they happen to be; that the Government 
is determined to exert all its energy^ for the patronage and 
protection of the rights of the Indians, and the preservation 
of peace between the United States and them, and that any 
settlements are made on lands not ceded by them, without the 
previous consent of the United States, the Government will 
think itself bound, not only to declare to the Indians that such 
settlements are without the authority or protection of the United 
States, but tO' remove them also by public force. (From an 
opinion submitted to the Secretary of War, 1791. F. V., 370.) 

Indians. — I hope we shall drub the Indians well this summer 
and then change our plan from war to bribery. We must do 
as the Spaniards and English do, keep them in peace by liberal 
and constant presents. They find it the cheapest plan and so 
shall we. This expense of this summer's expedition would have 
served as presents for half a century. In this way hostilities 
being suspended for some length of time, a real affection may 
succeed on our frontiers to that hatred now existing there. 
(To James Monroe, 1791. F. V., 319.) 

Indians. — In truth, the ultimate point of rest and happiness 
for them is to let our settlements and theirs meet and blend 
together, to intermix, and become one people. Incorporating 
themselves with us as citizens of the United States, this is 



264 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

what the natural progress of things will of course bring on, 
and it will be better to promote than retard it. Surely it will 
be better for them to be identified with us, and preserved in 
the occupation of their lands, than be exposed to the many- 
casualties which may endanger them while a separate people. 
(To Benjamin Hawkins. 1803. F. VIII., 214.) 

Indians. — In order to provide an extension of territory which 
the rapid increase of our number will call for, two measures are 
deemed expedient. First: to encourage them to abandon hunt- 
ing, to apply to the raising of stock, to agriculture and domestic 
manufacture, and thereby prove to themselves that less land 
and labor will maintain them in this, better than in their former 
way of living. The extensive forests necessary in the hunting 
life will then become useless, and they will see advantage in 
exchanging them for the means of improving their farms, and 
of increasing their domestic comforts. Secondly: to multiply 
trading houses among them, and place within their reach those 
things which will contribute more to their domestic comfort 
than the possession of extensive but uncultivated wilds. Ex- 
perience and reflection will develop' tO' them the wisdom of 
exchanging what they can spare and what we want, for what 
we can spare and they want. In leading them to manufactures, 
to agriculture, and civilization; in bringing together their and 
our settlements, and in preparing them ultimately to participate 
in the benefits of our government, I trust and believe we are 
acting for their greatest good. (From a Confidential Message 
to the House of Representatives. 1803. F. VIII., 196-200.) 

Indians. — My friends and children, I have now an important 
advice to give you. I have already told you that you and all 
the red men are my children, and I wish you to live in peace 
and friendship with one another as brethren of the same family 
ought to do. How much better is it for neighbors to help 
than to hurt one another; how much happier must it make 
them. If you will cease to make war on one another, if you 
will live in friendship with all mankind, you can employ all 
your time in providing food and clothing for yourselves and 
your families. Your men will not be destroyed in war, and 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 265 

your women and children will lie down to sleep in their cabins 
without fear of being surprised by their enemies and killed or 
carried away. Your numbers will increase instead of diminish- 
ing", and you will live in plenty and in quiet. My children, I 
have given this advice to all your red brethren on this side of 
the Mississippi; they are following it, they are increasing in 
their numbers, are learning to clothe and provide for their 
families as we do. Remember then my advice, my children; 
carry it home to your people, and tell them that from the day 
that they have become all of the same family, from the day 
that we become father to them all, we wish, as a true father 
should do, that we may all live together as one household, 
and that before they strike one another, they should go to 
their father and let him endeavor to make up the quarrel. 
(Address to the Mander Nation. 1806. C. VIII., 201.) 

Indians. — In this war it is our wish the Indians should be 
quiet spectators, not wasting their blood in quarrels which do 
not concern them; that we are strong enough to fight our own 
battles, and therefore ask no help; and if the English should 
ask theirs, it should convince them that it proceeds from a 
sense of their own weakness which would not augur success 
in the end; that at the same time, as we have learnt that some 
tribes are already expressing intentions hostile to the United 
States, w^e think it proper to apprise them of the ground on 
which they now stand ; for which purpose we make to them 
this solemn declaration of our unalterable determination, that 
we wish them to live in peace with all nations as well as 
with us, and we have no> intention ever to strike them or 
to do them an injury of any sort, unless first attacked or 
threatened ; but that learning that some of them meditate 
war on us, we, too, are preparing for war against those, 
and those only who shall seek it ; and that if ever we are 
constrained to lift the hatchet against any tribe, we will never 
lay it down until that tribe is exterminated or driven beyond 
the Mississippi. Abjuring them, therefore, if they wish to re- 
main on the land which covers the bones of their fathers, to 
keep the peace with a people who ask their friendship with- 



266 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

out needing it, who wish to avoid war without fearing it. 
In war, they will kill some of us; we shall destroy all of them. 
Let them then continue quiet at home, take care of their women 
and children, and remove from among them the agents of any 
nation persuading them to war, and let them declare to us 
explicitly and categorically that they will do this; in which 
case they will have nothing to fear from the preparations we 
are now unwillingly making to secure our own safety. (To the 
Secretary of War. 1807. C. V., 176.) 

Industry. — It is your future happiness which interests me, 
and nothing can contribute more to it (moral rectitude always 
excepted) than the contracting a habit of industry and activity. 
Of all the cankers of human happiness none corrodes with so 
silent yet so baleful an influence as indolence. Body and mind 
both unemployed, our being becomes a burthen, and every 
object about us loathsome, even the dearest. Idleness begets 
ennui, ennid the hypochondriac, and that a diseased body. 
No' laborious person was ever yet hysterical. Exercise and 
application produce order in our affairs, health of body and 
cheerfulness of mind, and these make us precious to our friends. 
It is while we are young that the habit of industry is formed. 
If not then, it never is afterwards. The future of our lives, 
therefore, depends on employing well the short period of youth. 
If at any moment, my dear, you catch yourself in idleness, 
start from it as you would from the precipice of a gulf. (To 
Martha JefTerson, 1787. F. IV., 372.) 

Industry. — A mind always employed is always happy. This 
is the true secret, the grand recipe for felicity. The idle are 
only the wretched. In a world which furnishes so many em- 
ployments which are useful, so many which are amusing, it 
is our own fault if we ever know what ennui is, or if we are 
ever driven to the miserable resources of gaming, which cor- 
rupts our dispositions, and teaches us a habit of hostility 
against all mankind. (To' Martha JefTerson, 1787. F. IV., 389.) 

Inheritances. — Thomas Jefferson is of the opinion that the 
incompetence of the general government to legislate on the 
subject of inheritances is a reason the more against the Presi- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 267 

dent's becoming the channel of a petition to them. (From 
an opinion submitted to Washington, 1792. F. VI., 133.) 

Insurrections. — The case of opposition to the embargo laws 
on the Canada line, I take to be that of distinct combinations 
of a number of individuals tO' oppose by force and arms the 
execution of those laws, for which purpose they go armed, 
fire upon the public guards, in one instance at least have 
wounded one dangerously, and rescue property held under these 
laws. This may not be an insurrection in the popular sense of 
the word, but being arrayed in war-like manner, actually com- 
mitting acts of war, and persevering systematically in defiance of 
the public authority, bring it so fully within the legal definition 
of an insurrection, that I should not hesitate to issue a proclama- 
tion, were I not restrained by motives of which your Excellency 
seems to be apprised. * * * I think it so important in example 
to crush the audacious proceedings, and to make the offenders 
feel the consequences of individuals daring to oppose a law 
by force, that no effort should be spared to compass this object. 
(To Governor Tompkins, 1808. C. V., 343.) 

Internal Improvements. — You will have learned that an act 
for internal improvement, after passing both Houses, was nega- 
tived by the President. The act was founded, avowedly, on 
the principle that the phrase in the Constitution which author- 
izes Congress "to lay taxes, to pay debts and provide for the 
general welfare," was an extension of the powers specifically 
enumerated to whatever would promote the general welfare; 
and this you know was the federal doctrine. Whereas, our 
tenet ever was, and indeed, it is the only landmark which now 
divides the Federalists from the Republicans, that Congress had 
not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but 
were restrained to those specifically enumerated; and that, 
as it was never meant they should provide for the welfare, 
but by the exercise of the enumerated powers, so it could not 
have been meant they should raise money for purposes which 
the enumeration did not place under their action; consequently, 
that the specification of powers is a limitation of the purposes 
for which they may raise money. I think the passage and 



268 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

rejection of this bill a fortunate incident. (To Albert Gallatin, 
1817. C. VII., 78.) 

Inventions. — It has been pretended by some (and in England 
especially) that inventors have a natural and exclusive right 
to their inventions, and not merely for their own lives, but 
inheritable to their heirs. But while it is a mooted question 
whether the origin of any kind of property is derived from 
nature at all, it would be singular to admit a natural and even 
an hereditary right to inventors. It is agreed by those who 
have .seriously considered the subject, that no individual has 
of natural right a separate property in an acre of land for 
instance. By an universal law, indeed, whatever, whether fixed 
or movable, belongs to all men equally and in common is the 
property for the moment of him who occupies it; but when he 
relinquishes the Occupation the property goes with it. Stable 
ownership is the gift of social law, and is given late in the 
progress of society. It would be curious then, if an idea, the 
fugitive fermentation of an individual brain, could, of natural 
right, be claimed in exclusive and stable property. If nature 
has made any one thing less susceptible than all others of 
exclusive property, it is the action of the thinking power called 
an idea, which an individual may exclusively possess as long as 
he keeps it to himself; but the moment it is divulged it forces 
itself into the possession of every one, and the receiver cannot 
dispossess himself of it. Its peculiar character, too, is that 
no one possesses the less, because every other possesses the 
whole of it. He who receives an idea from me receives in- 
struction himself without lessening mine, receives light with- 
out darkening me. That ideas should freely spread from one 
to another over the globe, for the moral and mutual instruction 
of man and improvement of his condition, seems to have been 
peculiarly and benevolently designed by nature, when she made 
them, like fire, expansible over all space, without lessening 
their density in any point, and like the air in which we breathe, 
move and have our physical being, incapable of confinement 
or exclusive appropriation. Inventions, then, can not, in nature, 
be a subject of property. Society may give an exclusive right 



OF TIIOAIAS JEFFERSON 269 

to the profits arising therefrom, as an encouragement to men 
to pursue ideas which may produce utility, but this may or may 
not be done, according to the will and convenience of the 
society, without claim or complaint from anybody. Accord- 
ingly, it is a fact, as far as I am informed, that England was, 
until we copied her, the only country on earth which ever, by 
a general law, gave a legal right to the exclusive use of an 
idea. In some other countries it is sometimes done, in a great 
case, and by a special and personal act, but generally speaking, 
other nations have thought that these monopolies produce more 
embarrassment than advantage to society; and it may be ob- 
served that the nations which refuse monopolies of invention 
are as fruitful as England in new^ and useful devices. (To 
Isaac IMcPherson, 1813. C. VI., 180.) 

Jacobins. — The society of Jacobins, in another country, was 
instituted on principles and views as virtuous as ever kindled 
the hearts of patriots. It was the pure patriotism of their 
purposes which extended their association to the limits of 
the nation, and rendered their power within it boundless; and 
it was this power which degenerated their principles and prac- 
tices to such enormities as never before could have been 
imagined. (To Jedidiah Morse, 1822. C. VII., 235.) 

Jay's Treaty. — The most remarkable political occurrence with 
us has been the treaty with England, of which no man in the 
United States has had the affrontery to affirm that it was not 
a very bad one except A. Hamilton, under the signature of 
Camillus. Its most zealous defenders only pretended that it 
was better than war, as if war was not invited rather than 
avoided by unfounded demands. I have never known the 
public pulse beat so full and in such universal union on any 
subject since the Declaration of Independence. (To James Mon- 
roe, 1795. F. VII., 58.) 

Jay's Treaty. — Mr. Jay's treaty has at length been made 
public. So general a burst of dissatisfaction never before ap- 
peared against any transaction. Those who understand the 
particular articles of it condemn those articles. Those who do 
not understand them minutely condemn it generally as wearing 



2/0 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

a hostile face to France. * * * it has in my opinion com- 
pletely demolished the monarchical party here. (To James Mon- 
roe, 1795. F. VII., 27.) 

Jesus. — In this state of things among Jews, Jesus appeared. 
His parentage was obscure; his condition poor; his education 
null; his natural endowm.ents great; his life correct and innocent; 
he was meek, benevolent, patient, firm, disinterested and of 
the sublimest eloquence. 

The disadvantages under which his doctrine appeared are 
remarkable. 

1. Like Socrates and Epictetus, he wrote nothing himself. 

2. But he had not. like them, a Xenophon or an Arrian to 
write for him. On the contrary, all the learned of his country, 
entrenched in its power and riches, were opposed to him, lest 
his labors should undermine their advantages; and the com- 
mitting to writing his life and doctrines fell on the most unlet- 
tered and ignorant men, who wrote, too, from memory, and not 
till long after the transaction had passed. 

3. According to the ordinary fate of those who attempt to 
enlighten and reform mankind, he fell an early victim to the 
jealousy and combination of the altar and the throne, at 
about 33 years of age, his reason having not yet attained the 
maximum of its energy, nor the course of his preaching, which 
was but of three years at most, presented occasions for develop- 
ing a complete set of morals. 

4. Hence the doctrines which he really delivered were de- 
fective as a whole, and fragments only of what he did deliver 
have come to us mutilated, misstated and often unintelligible. 

5. They have been still more disfigured by the corruptions of 
schismatising followers, who have found an interest in sophisti- 
cating and perverting the simple doctrines he taught by en- 
grafting on them the mysticisms of a Grecian sophist, frittering 
them into subtilities and obscuring them with jargon, until 
they have caused good men to reject the whole in disgust and 
to view Jesus himself as an impostor. 

Notwithstanding these disadvantages, a system of morals is 
presented to us, which, if filled up in the true style and spirit 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 271 

of the rich fragments he left us, would be the most perfect 
and sublime that has ever been taught by man. 

The question of his being a member of the Godhead, or in 
direct communication with it, claimed for him by some of his 
followers and denied by others, is foreign to the present view, 
which is merely an estimate of the intrinsic merit of his doc- 
trines. 

1. He corrected the deism of the Jews, confirming them 
in their belief of one only God, and giving them juster notions 
of his attributes and government. 

2. His moral doctrines, relating to kindred and friends, were 
more pure and perfect than those of the most correct philos- 
ophers, and greatly more so than those of the Jews; and they 
went far beyond both in inculcating universal philanthropy, not 
only to kindred and friends, to neighbors and countrymen, but 
to all mankind, gathering all into one family, under the bonds 
of love, charity, peace, common wants and common aids. A 
development of this head will evince the peculiar superiority of 
the system of Jesus over all others. 

3. The precepts of philosophy and of the Hebrew code, laid 
hold of actions only. He pushed his scrutinies into the heart 
of man; erected his tribunal in the region of his thoughts, and 
purified the waters at the fountain head. 

4. He taught emphatically the doctrines of a future state, 
which was either doubted or disbelieved by the Jews; and 
wielded it with ef^cacy as an im.portant incentive, supplemen- 
tar}' to the other motives to moral conduct. CTo Benjamin 
Rush, 1803. F. VHL, 227.) 

Jesus. — My aim was to justify the character of Jesus against 
the fictions of his pseudo-followers, which have exposed him 
to the inference of being an impostor. For if we could believe 
that he really countenanced the follies, the falsehoods and the 
charlatanism which his biographers fasten on him, and admit 
the misconstructions, interpolations and thcorizations of the 
fathers of the early and fanatic of the later ages, the conclusion 
would be irresistible by every sound mind that he was 
an impostor. I give no credit to their falsificdtions of his 



^'J^ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

doctrines and his actions, and to rescue his character the postu- 
late in my letter asked only what is granted in reading every 
other historian. When Livy and Siculus, for example, tell us 
things which coincide with our experience of the order of 
nature, we credit them on their word, and place their narrations 
among the records of credible history. But when they tell us 
of calves speaking, of statues sweating blood, and other things 
against the course of nature, we reject these as fables not be- 
longing to history. In like manner when an historian, speaking 
of a character well known and established on satisfactory testi- 
mony, imputes to it things incompatible with that character, we 
reject them without hesitation, and assent to that only of 
which we have better evidence. (To William Short, 1820. 
C. VII., 164.) 

Jesus. — See Christianity, Religion. 

Judges. — For misbehavior of judges the grand inquest of the 
Colony, the House of Representatives, should impeach them 
before the Governor and Council, when they should have time 
and opportunity to make their defense; but if convicted, should 
be removed from their offices and subjected to such other pun- 
ishment as shall be thought proper. (To George Wythe, 1776. 
F. II.,6o.) 

Judiciary. — The dignity and stability of government in all its 
branches, the morals of the people, and every blessing of society, 
depend so much upon an upright and skilful administration of 
justice that the judicial power ought to be distinct from both 
the legislature and executive, and independent upon both, that 
so it m.ay be a check upon both, as both should be a check 
upon that. The judges, therefore, should be men of learning 
and experience in the laws, of exemplary morals, great patience, 
calmness and attention; their minds should not be distracted 
with jarring interests; they should not be dependent upon 
any m.an or body of men. To these ends they should hold estates 
for life in their offices, or, in other words, their commissions 
should be during good behavior, and their salaries ascertained 
and established by law. (To George Wythe, 1776. F. II., 60.) 

Judiciary. — The judiciary of the United States is the subtle 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 273 

corps of sappers and miners constantly working underground 
to undermine the foundations of our confederate fabric. They 
are construing our Constitution from a co-ordination of a 
general and special government to a general and supreme one 
alone. This will lay all things at their feet, and they are too 
well versed in English law to forget the maxim, "boni Judicis 
est ampliarc jurisdictioncm." We shall see if they are bold 
enough to take the daring stride their five lawyers have lately 
taken. If they do, then, with the editor of our book, in his 
address to the public, I will say that ''against this every man 
should raise his voice," and more, should uplift his arm. Who 
wrote this admirable address? Sound, luminous, strong, not 
a word too much, nor one which can be changed but for the 
worse. That pen should gO' on, lay bare these words of our 
Constitution, expose the decisions seriatim, and arouse, as it 
is able, the attention of the nation to these bold speculators on 
its patience. Having found, from experience, that impeach- 
ment is an impracticable thing, a mere scarecrow, they consider 
themselves secure for life; they sculk from responsibility to pub- 
lic opinion, the only remaining hold on them, under a practice 
first introduced into England by Lord Mansfield. An opinion 
is huddled up in conclave, perhaps by a majority of one, de- 
livered as if unanimous, and with the silent acquiescence of 
lazy or timid associates, and with a crafty chief judge, who 
sophisticated the law to his mind, by the turn of his own reason- 
ing. A judiciary law was once reported by the Attorney 
General to Congress, requiring each judge to deliver his opinion 
seriatim and openly, and then give it in writing to the clerk 
to be entered on the record. A judiciary independent of a king 
or executive alone is a good thing; but independence of the will 
of the nation is a solecism, at least in a republican government. 
(To Thomas Ritchie, 1820. C. VII., 192.) 

Judiciary, Federal. — I well knew that in certain federal cases 
the laws of the United States had given to a foreign party, 
whether plaintive or defendant, a right to carry his cause into 
the federal court; but I did not know that where he had himself 
elected the State judicature, he could after an unfavorable 



274 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

decision there remove his case to the federal court and thus 
take the benefit of two chances where others have but one; 
nor that the right of entertaining the question in this case had 
been exercised by the federal judiciary after it had been post- 
poned on the party's first election. * * * i hope our courts will 
never countenance the sweeping pretensions which have been 
set up under the words "general defence and public welfare." 
The words only express the motives which induced the Con- 
stitution to give the ordinary Legislature certain specified pow- 
ers which they enumerated which they thought might be trusted 
to the ordinary Legislature and not to give them the unspecified 
also; or why any specification? They could not be so awkward 
in language as to mean, as we say, "all and some." And 
should this construction prevail, all limits to the federal gov- 
ernment are done away. (To Judge Roane, 1815. C. VL, 

494-) 

Judiciary, Federal. — The nation (in 1800) declared its will 
by dismissing functionaries of one principle and electing those 
of another in the two branches, executive and legislative, sub- 
mitted to their election. Over the judiciary department the 
Constitution had deprived them of their control. That, there- 
fore, has continued the reprobated system, and although new 
matter has occasionally been incorporated into the old, yet 
the leaven of the old mass seems tO' assimilate to itself the 
new, and after twenty years' confirmation of the federated 
system by the voice of the nation declared through the medium 
of election we find the judiciary on every occasion still drawing 
us into consolidation. In denying the right they usurp of 
exclusively explaining the Constitution I go further than you 
do, if I understand rightly your quotation from the Federalist 
of an opinion that "the judiciary is the last resort in relation 
to the other departments of the government, but not in relation 
to the rights of the parties to the compact under which the 
judiciary is derived." If this opinion be sound then indeed is 
our Constitution a complete felo de se. For intending to 
establish three departments, co-ordinate and independent, that 
they might check and balance one another, it has given accord- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 275 

ing to this opinion, to one of them alone the right to prescribe 
rules for the government of the others, and to that one, too, 
which is unelected by and independent of the nation. For 
experience has already shown that the impeachment it has 
provided is not even a scarecrow, that such opinions as the 
one you combat sent cautiously out, as you obsen'e also by 
detachment, not belonging to the case often, but sought for 
out of it as if to rally the public opinion beforehand to their 
views and to indicate the line they are to walk in, have been 
so quietly passed over as never to have excited animadversion 
even in a speech of any one of the body entrusted with impeach- 
ment. The Constitution, on this hypothesis, is a mere thing 
of wax in the hands of the judiciary, which they may twist 
and shape intO' any form they please. It should be remembered 
as an axiom of eternal truth in politics that whatever power 
in any government is independent is absolute also, in theory 
only at first, while the spirit of the people is up, but in practice 
as fast as that relaxes. Independence can be trusted nowhere 
but with the people in the mass. They are inherently inde- 
pendent of all but moral law. My construction of the Consti- 
tution is very different fro-m that you quote. It is that each 
department is truly independent of the others, and has an equal 
right to decide for itself what is the meaning of the Constitu- 
tion in the cases submitted to its action, and especially where 
it is to act ultimately and without appeal. I will explain myself 
by examples which have occurred while I was in ofifice and 
better known to me and the principles which governed them. 

A legislature had passed a sedition law. The federal courts 
had subjected certain individuals to its penalties of fine and 
imprisonment. On coming into office, I released those individ- 
uals by the power of pardon committed to executive discretion, 
which could never be more completely exercised than where 
citizens were suffering without the authority of law, or which 
was equivalent, under a law unauthorized by the Constitution 
and therefore null. In the case of Marbury and Madison, the 
federal judges declared that commissions signed and sealed by 
the President were valid, although not delivered. I deemed 



276 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

delivery essential to complete a deed, which, as long as it 
remains in the hands of the party, is as yet no deed, it is in posse 
only, but not in esse, and I withheld a delivery of commissions. 
They cannot issue a mandamus to the President or Legislature 

or any of their officers. When the British treaty of arrived, 

without any provision against the impressment of our seamen, 
I determined not to ratify it. The Senate thought that I should 
ask their advice. I thought that would be a mockery of them, 
when I was predetermined against following it, should they 
advise Its ratification. The Constitution had made their advice 
necessary to confirm a treaty but not to reject it. This has 
been blamed by some; but I have never doubted its soundness. 
In the cases of two persons antcnati, under exactly similar 
circumstances, the federal court had determined that one of 
them (Duane) was not a citizen; the House of Representatives 
nevertheless determined that the other (Smith of South Caro- 
lina) was a citizen and admitted him to a seat in their body. 
Duane was a republican and Smith a federalist, and their de- 
cisions were made during the federal ascendency. 

These are examples of my position that each of the three 
departments has equally the right to decide for itself what is 
its duty under the Constitution. (To Judge Roane, 18 19. 
C VII., 133.) 

Judiciary, Federal, — You seem to consider the judges as the 
ultimate arbiters of all constitutional questions; a very dangerous 
doctrine indeed, and one that would place us under the despot- 
ism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other men 
are and no more so. They have with others the same passions 
for party, for power, and the privilege of their corps. Their 
maxim is honi jtidicis est ampliare jurisdictionem, and their 
power is more dangerous as they are in office for life, and not 
responsible, as the other functionaries are, to the elective con- 
trol. The Constitution has erected no such single tribunal, 
knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions 
of time and party its members would become despots. It has 
more wisely made all the departments co-equal and co-sovereign 
with themselves. If the Legislature fails to pass laws for a 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 277 

census, for paying the judges and other officers of government, 
for estabHshing a miHtia, for naturalization as prescril^ed by 
the Constitution, or if they fail to meet in Congress, the judges 
cannot issue their mandamus to them; if the President falls to 
supply the place of a judge, to appoint other civil or military 
officers, to issue requisite commissions, the judges cannot force 
him, Tliey can issue their mandamus or distringas to no 
executive or legislative officer to enforce the fulfilment of their 
official duties any more than the President or Legislature may 
issue orders to the judges or their officer. Betrayed by English 
example, and unaware, as it would seem, of the control of our 
Constitution in this particular, they have at times overstepped 
their limit by undertaking to command executive officers in 
the discharge of their executive duties; but the Constitution, in 
keeping three departments distinct and independent, restrains 
the authority of the judges to judiciary organs, as it does the 
executive and legislative to executive and legislative organs. 
Tlie judges certainly have more frequent occasion to act on 
constitutional questions, because the laws of meum and tuum 
and of criminal action, forming the great mass of the system 
of law, constitute their particular department. When the legis- 
lative or executive functionaries act unconstitutionally they are 
responsible to the people in their elective capacity. The ex- 
ception of the judges from that is quite dangerous enough. I 
know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society 
but the people themselves; and if we think them not enlightened 
enough to exercise their control with a wholesome discretion, 
the remedy is not to take it from them, but to inform their 
discretion by education. This is the true corrective for abuses 
of constitutional power. (To Mr. Jarvis, 1820. C. VIL, 178.) 
Judiciary, Federal. — But there was another amendment (to 
the Constitution) of which none of us thought at the time, and 
in the omission of which lurks the germ that is to destroy this 
happy combination of national powers in the general govern- 
ment for matters of national concern and independent powers 
in the States for what concerns the States severally. 
In England it was a great point gained at the Revo- 



278 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

lution that the commissions of the judges which had 
hitherto been during pleasure should henceforth be made 
during good behavior. A judiciary dependent on the will of 
the King had proved itself the most oppressive of all tools in 
the hand of that magistrate. Nothing then could be more 
salutary than a change there to the tenure of good behavior; 
and the question of good behavior left to the vote of a simple 
majority in the two Houses of Parliament. Before the Revolu- 
tion we were all good English whigs, cordial in their free 
principles and in their jealousies of their executive magistrate. 
These jealousies are very apparent in all our State Constitu- 
tions, and, in the general government in this instance, we have 
gone even beyond the English caution by requiring a vote of 
two-thirds in one of the Houses for removing a judge; a vote 
so impossible that where any defence is made before men of or- 
dinary prejudices and passions that our judges are effectually 
independent of the nation. But this ought not to be. 
I would not indeed make them dependent on the ex- 
ecutive authority as they formerly were in England, 
but I deem it indispensable to the continuance of this 
government that they should be submitted to some 
practical and impartial control; and this, to be imparted, must 
be compounded of a mixture of State and federal authorities. 
It is not enough that honest men are appointed judges. All 
know the influence of interest on the mind of man and how 
unconsciously his judgment is warped by that influence. To 
this bias add that of the esprit de corps of their peculiar maxim 
and creed, that "it is the office of a good judge to enlarge his 
jurisdiction" and the absence of responsibility; and how can we 
expect impartial decision between the general government of 
which they are themselves so eminent a part and an individual 
State from which they have nothing to hope or fear? We have 
seen, too, that contrary to all correct example, they are in 
the habit of going out of the question before them to throw 
an anchor ahead and grapple further hold for future advances 
of power. They are then in fact the corps of sappers and miners 
steadily wishing to undermine the independent rights of the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 279 

States, and to consolidate all power in the hands of that govern- 
ment which they have so important a free hold estate. But 
it is not by the consolidation or concentration of powers, but 
by their distribution that good government is effected. Were 
not this great country already divided into States, that division 
must be made, that each might do for itself vrhat concerns 
itself directly, and what it can so much better do than a distant 
authority. Every State again is divided into counties, each to 
take care of what it has within its local bounds; each county 
again into townships or wards to manage minute details; and 
every ward into farms, to be governed each by its individual 
proprietor. Were we directed from Washington when to sow 
and when to reap, we should soon want bread. It is by this 
partition of cares descending in graduation from general to 
particular that the mass of human affairs may be best managed 
for the good and prosperity of all. I repeat that I do not 
charge the judges with wilful and ill-intentioned error; but 
honest error must be arrested where its toleration leads to public 
ruin. As for the safety of society, we commit honest maniacs 
to Bedlam, so judges should be withdrawal from the bench 
whose erroneous biases are leading us to dissolution. It may, 
indeed, injure them in fame or in fortune, but it saves the Re- 
public, which is the first and supreme law. (From Autobiog- 
raphy, 1 82 1. C. I., 81.) 

Judiciary, Federal. — The nation will judge both the offender 
and judges for themselves. If a member of the executive or 
Legislature does wrong, the day is never far distant when the 
people will remove him. They will see then and amend the error 
in our Constitution, which makes any branch independent of 
the nation. They will see that one of tlic great co-ordinate 
branches of the Government, setting itself in opposition to the 
other two, and to the common sense of the nation, proclaims 
impunity to that class of offenders which endeavor to overturn 
the Constitution, and are themselves protected by the Consti- 
tution itself; for impeachment is a farce that will not be tried 
again. (To William B. Giles, 1807. C. V., 68.) 

Judiciary, Federal. — The great object of my fear is the fed- 



28o THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

eral judiciary. That body, like gravity, with noiseless foot and 
unalarming' advance, gaining ground step by step, and holding 
what it gains, is ingulphing insidiously the special governments 
into the jaws of that which feeds them. (To Judge Roane, 1821. 
C VII., 212.) 

Judiciary, Federal. — We already see the power installed for 
life responsible to no authority advancing with a noiseless and 
steady pace to the great object of consolidation. The founda- 
tions are alread}^ deeply laid by the decisions for the annihilation 
of constitutional State rights and the removal of every check, 
every counterpart to the ingulfing power of which the members 
are to make a sovereign port. If ever this vast country is 
brought under a single government it will be one of the most 
extensive corruptions, indifferent and incapable of a wholesome 
care over so wide a spread of surface. This will not be borne 
and you will have to choose between reformation and revolution. 
If I know the spirit of the country, the one or the other is 
inevitable. Before the canker is become inevitable, before 
its venom has reached so much of the body politic as to 
get beyond control, remedy should be applied. Let the 
future appointment of judges be for four or six years, and 
renewable by the President and Senate. This will bring their 
conduct, at regular periods, under revision and probation and 
may keep them in equipoise between the general and special 
governments. We have erred in this point by copying England, 
Avhere certainly it is a good thing to have the judges inde- 
pendent of the King. But we have omitted to copy this caution 
also which makes a judge removable on the advice of both 
legislative houses. That there should be public friction inde- 
pendent of the nation whatever may be their demerit, is a sole 
cause in a republic of the first order of absurdity and incon- 
sistency. (To W. T. Barry, 1822. C. VII., 256.) 

Judiciary,, Federal. — One single object, if your provision 
attains it, will entitle you to the endless gratitude of society, 
that of restraining judges from usurping legislation. And with 
no body of men is this restraint more wanting than with the 
judges of what is commonly called our general government, 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 281 

but what I call our foreign department. They are practicing 
on the Constitution by inferences, analogies and sophisms as 
they would on an ordinar}' law. They do not seem aware that 
it is not even a Constitution, formed by a single authority and 
subject to a single superintendence and control; but that it is a 
compact of many independent powers, every single one of v/hich 
causes an equal right to understand it and to require its ob- 
servance. However strong the cord of compact may be lliere 
is a point of tension at which it will break. A few such doctrinal 
decisions as bare-faced as that of the Cohens happening to bear 
immediately on two or three large States may induce them to 
join in arresting the march of government and in arousing the 
co-States to pay some attention to what is passing, to bring 
back the compact to its original principles, or to modify it 
legitimately by the express consent of the parties themselves, 
and not by the usurpation of their created agents. They 
imagine they can lead us into a consolidated government while 
their road, leads directly to dissolution. This member of the 
government was at first considered the most harmless and help- 
less of all its organs. But it has proved that the power of 
declaring what the law is, ad libitum, sapping and mining, slily 
and without alarm the foundations of the Constitution, can do 
what open force would not dare to attempt. (To Edward Liv- 
ingston, 1825. C. VII., 403.) 

Judiciary, Federal. — See Supreme Court. 

Juries. — All facts in causes whether of Chancery, Common, 
Ecclesiastical, or ^Marine law shall be tried by a jury upon 
evidence given viva voce, in open court. * * * w\ f^^es 
or amercements shall be assessed and terms of imprisonment 
for contempts and misdemeanors shall be fixed by a jury. (From 
a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. F. II., 24.) 

Juries. — We think in America that it is necessary to intro- 
duce the people into ever}' department of government as far as 
they are capable of exercising it; and that the institution of 
the jury is the only way to ensure a long continued and honest 
administration of its powers. * * * Tliey are not qualiiied 
to judge questions of law; but they are ver}' capable of judging 



282 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

questions of fact. In the form of juries, therefore, they deter- 
mine all matters of fact, leaving to the permanent judges to 
decide the law resulting from these facts. But we all know that 
permanent judges acquire Esprit de Corps, that being known, 
they are liable to be tempted by bribery, that they are misled by 
favor, by relationship, by a spirit of party, by a devotion to the 
Executive or Legislature. That it is better to leave a cause to 
the decision of cross and pile, than to that judge biased to one 
side; and that the opinion of twelve honest jurymen gives still 
a better hope of right than cross and pile does. It is left, there- 
fore, to the juries, if they think the permanent judges are under 
any bias whatever in any cause, to take on themselves to judge 
the laws as well as the fact. They never exercise this power 
but when they suspect partiality in the judges, and by the 
exercise of this power they have been the firmest bulwark of 
EngHsh liberty. Were I called upon to decide whether the 
people had best be omitted in the legislative or judiciary depart- 
ment, I would say it is better tO' have them out of the Legis- 
lature. The execution of the laws is more important than the 
making of them. However, it is best to have the people in all 
the three departments where that is possible. (Written to 
L'Abbe Arnoud, Paris, 1789. F. V., 104.) 

Justice. — The administration of justice is a branch of the 
sovereignty over a country, and belongs exclusively tO' the 
nation inhabiting it. No foreign power can pretend to partici- 
pate in their jurisdiction or that their citizens received there 
are not subject to it. When a cause has been adjudged accord- 
ing to the rules and forms of the country, its justice ought to be 
presumed. Even error in the highest court is one of these 
inconveniences flowing from the imperfections of our faculties, 
to which every society must submit; because there must be 
somewhere a last resort wherein contestations may end. Multi- 
ply bodies of revisal as you please, their number will be finite and 
they must finish in the hands of fallible men as judges. (To 
the British Minister, 1792. F. VI., 56.) 

Kentucky Resolutions. — ^Jefferson's Draft, 1798. — Re- 
solved, That the several States composing the United States of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 283 

America, are not united on the principle of unlimited submis- 
sion to their general government; but that, by a compact under 
the style and title of a Constitution for the United States, and 
of amendments thereto, they constituted a general government 
for special purposes — delegated tO' that government certain 
definite powers, reserving, each State to itself, the residuary 
mass of right to their own self-government; and that when- 
soever the general government assumes undelegated powers, its 
acts are unauthoritative, void, and of nO' force; that to this 
compact each State acceded as a State, and is an integral party, 
its co-States forming, as to itself, the other party; that the gov- 
ernment created by this compact was not made the exclusive 
or final judge of the extent of the powers delegated to itself; 
since that would have made its discretion, and not the Constitu- 
tion, the measure of its powers; but that, as in all other cases 
of compact among powers having no common judge, each party 
has an equal right to judge for itself, as well of infractions as of 
the mode and measure of redress. 

2. Resolved, That the Constitution of the United States, 
having delegated to Congress a power to punish treason, coun- 
terfeiting the securities and current coin of the United States, 
piracies, and felonies committed on the high seas, and offences 
against the law of nations, and no other crimes whatsoever; and 
it being true as a general principle, and one of the amendments 
to the Constitution having so declared, that "the powers not 
delegated to the United States by the Constitution, not pro- 
hibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respect- 
ively, or to the people," therefore the act of Congress, passed 
on the 14th day of July, 1798, and intituled "An Act in addition 
to the act intituled An Act for the punishment of certain crimes 
against the United States," as also the act passed by them on the 
day of June, 1798, intituled "An Act to punish frauds com- 
mitted on the bank of the United States" (and all their other 
acts which assume to create, define, or punish crimes, other 
than those so enumerated in the Constitution), are altogether 
void, and of no force; and that the power to create, define and 
punish such other crimes is reserved, and, of right, appertains 



284 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

solely and exclusively to the respective States, each within its 
own territory. 

3. Resolved, That it is true as a general principle, and is 
also expressly declared by one of the amendments to the Consti- 
tution, that "the powers not delegated to the United States by 
the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people;" and that 
no power over the freedom of religion, freedom of speech, or 
freedom of the press being delegated to the United States, all 
lawful powers respecting the same did of right remain, and 
w^ere reserved to the States or the people: that thus was mani- 
fested their determination to retain to themselves the right of 
judging how far the licentiousness of speech and of the press 
may be abridged without lessening their useful freedom, and 
how far those abuses which cannot be separated from their use 
should be tolerated, rather than the use be destroyed. And 
thus also they guarded against all abridgment by the United 
States of the freedom of religious opinions and exercises, and 
retained to themselves the right of protecting the same, as this 
State, by a law passed on the general demand of its citizens, 
had already protected them from all human restraint or inter- 
ference. And that in addition to this general principle and 
express declaration, another and more special provision has 
been made by one of the amendments to the Constitution, which 
expressly declares, that "Congress shall make no law respecting 
an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise 
thereof, or abridging the freedom of speech or of the press;" 
thereby guarding in the same sentence, and under the same 
words, the freedom of religion, of speech, and of the press: 
insomuch, that whatever violates either, throws down the 
sanctuary which covers the others, and that libels, falsehood, 
and defamation, equally wdth heresy and false religion, are with- 
held from the cognizance of Federal tribunals. That, therefore, 
the act of Congress of the United States, passed on the 14th day 
of July, 1798, intituled "An Act in addition to the act intituled 
An Act for the punishment of certain crimes against the United 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 285 

States," which does abridge the freedom of the press, is not 
law, but is altogether void, and of no force. 

4. Resolved, That alien friends are under the jurisdiction 
and protection of the laws of the State wherein they are; that 
no power over them has been delegated to the United States, 
nor prohibited to the individual States, distinct from their 
power over citizens. And it being true as a general principle, 
and one of the amendments to the Constitution having also 
declared, that "the powers not delegated to the United States 
by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are 
reserved to the States respectively, or to the people," the act of 

Congress of the United States, passed on the day of July, 

1798, intituled "An Act concerning aliens," which assumes 
powers over alien friends, not delegated by the Constitution, 
is not law, but is altogether void and of no force. 

5. Resolved, That in addition to the general principle, as 
well as the express declaration, that powers not delegated are 
reserved, another and more special provision, inserted in the 
Constitution from abundant caution, has declared that "the 
migration or importation of such persons as any of the States 
now existing shall think proper to admit, shall not be prohibited 
by the Congress prior to the year 1808;" that this Common- 
wealth does admit the migration of alien friends, described as 
the subject of the said act concerning aliens; that a provision 
against prohibiting their migration, is a provision against all 
acts equivalent thereto, or it would be nugatory; that to remove 
them when immigrated, is equivalent to a prohibition of their 
migration, and is, therefore, contrary to the said provision of 
the Constitution, and void. 

6. Resolved, That the imprisonment of a person under the 
protection of the laws of this Commonwealth, on his failure to 
obey the simple order of the President to depart out of the 
United States as is undertaken by said act intituled "An Act 
concerning aliens," is contrary to the Constitution, one amend- 
ment to which has provided that "no person shall be deprived 
of liberty without due process of law ;" and that another having 
provided that "in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall 



286 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

enjoy the right to pubHc trial by an impartial jury, to be 
informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be con- 
fronted with the witness against him, to have compulsory pro- 
cess for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the 
assistance of counsel for his defence;" the same act, undertak- 
ing to authorize the President to remove a person out of the 
United States, who is under the protection of the law, on his 
own suspicion, without accusation, without jury, without public 
trial, without confrontation of the witnesses against him, with- 
out hearing witnesses in his favor, without defense, without 
counsel, is contrary to the provision also of the Constitution, is 
therefore not law but utterly void, and of no force; that trans- 
ferring the power of judging any person, who is under the pro- 
tection of the laws, from the courts to the President of the 
United States, as is undertaken by the same act concerning 
aliens, is against the article of the Constitution which provides 
that "the judicial power of the United States shall be vested in 
courts, the judges of which shall hold their offices during good 
behavior;" and that the said act is void for that reason also. 
And it is further to be noted, that this transfer of judiciary 
power is to that magistrate of the general government who 
already possesses all the Executive, and a negative on all Legis- 
lative powers. 

7. Resolved, That the construction applied by the general 
government (as is evidenced by sundry of their proceedings) to 
those parts of the Constitution of the United States which dele- 
gate to Congress a power "to lay and collect taxes, duties, im- 
ports, and excises, to pay the debts, and provide for the common 
defence and general welfare of the United States," and "to 
make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying 
into execution the powers vested by the Constitution in the 
government of the United States, or in any department or 
of^cer thereof," goes to the destruction of all limits prescribed 
to their power by the Constitution; that words meant by the 
instrument to be subsidiary only to the execution of limited 
powers, ought not to be construed as themselves to give un- 
limited powers, nor a part to be so taken as to destroy the whole 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 287 

residue of that instrument; that the proceedings of the general 
government under color of these articles, will be a fit and 
necessary subject of revisal and correction, at a time of greater 
tranquillity, while those specified in the preceding resolutions 
call for immediate redress. 

8. Resolved, That a committee of conference and corre- 
spondence be appointed, who shall have in charge to communi- 
cate the preceding resolutions to the legislatures of the several 
States; to assure them that this Commonwealth continues in 
the same esteem of their friendship and union which it has 
manifested from that moment at which a common danger first 
suggested a common union: that it considers union, for 
specified national purposes, and particularly to those specified 
in their late federal compact, to be friendly to the peace, hap- 
piness and prosperity of all the States: that faithful to their 
compact, according to the plain intent and meaning in which 
it was understood and acceded to by the several parties, it is 
smcerely anxious for its preservation: that it does also believe, 
that to take from the States all the powers of self-government 
and transfer them to a general and consolidated government, 
without regard to the special delegations and reservations sol- 
emnly agreed to in that compact, is not for the peace, happi- 
ness or prosperity of these States; and that therefore this 
Commonwealth is determined, as it doubts not its co-States 
are, to submit to undelegated, and consequently unlimited 
powers in nO' man, or body of men on earth: that in cases of 
an abuse of the delegated powers, the members of the general 
government, being chosen by the people, a change by the 
people would be the constitutional remedy; but, where powers 
are assumed which have not been delegated, a nullification of 
the act is the rightful remedy: that every State has a natural 
right in cases not within the compact (casus non foederis), to 
nullify of their own authority all assumptions of power by 
others within their limits: that without this right, they would 
be' under the dominion, absolute and unlimited, of whosoever 
might exercise this right of judgment for them: that neverthe- 
less, this Commonwealth, from motives of regard and respect 



288 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

for its co-States, has wished to communicate with them on 
the subject: that with them alone it is proper to communicate, 
they alone being parties to the compact, and solely authorized 
to judg"e in the last resort of the powers exercised under it, 
Congress being not a party, but merely the creature of the 
compact, and subject as to its assumptions of power to the 
final judgment of those by whom, and for whom, its use and its 
powers were all created and modified: that if the acts before 
specified should stand, these conclusions would flow from them; 
that the general government may place any act they thinic 
proper on the list of crimes, and punish it themselves whether 
enumerated or not enumerated by the Constitution as cogniz- 
able by them: that they may transfer its cognizance to the 
President or any other person, who may himself be the accuser, 
counsel, judge and jury, whose suspicions may be the evidence, 
his order the sentence, his officer the executioner, and his breast 
the sole record of the transaction: that a very numerous and 
valuable description of the inhabitants of these States being, 
by this precedent, reduced, as outlaws, to the absolute dominion 
of one man, and the barrier of the Constitution thus swept 
away from us all, no rampart now remains against the passions 
and the powers of a majority in Congress to protect from a like 
exportation, or other more grievous punishment, the minority 
of the same body, the legislatures, judges, governors and coun- 
sellors of the States, nor their other peaceable inhabitants, who 
may venture to reclaim the constitutional rights and liberties 
of the States and people, or who for other causes, good or bad, 
may be obnoxious to the views, or marked by the suspicions of 
the President, or be thought dangerous to his or their election, 
or other interests, public or personal: that the friendless alien 
has indeed been selected as the safest subject of a first experi- 
ment; but the citizen v;ill soon follow, or, rather, has already 
followed, for already has a sedition act marked him as its prey; 
that these and successive acts of the same character, unless 
arrested at the threshold, necessarily drive these States into 
revolution and blood, and will furnish new calumnies against 
Republican government, and new pretexts for those who wish 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 289 

it to be believed that man cannot be governed by but a rod of 
iron. That this Commonwealth does therefore call on its co- 
States for an expression of their sentiments on the acts con- 
cerning aliens, and for the punishment of certain crimes herein 
before specified, plainly declaring whether these acts are or are 
not authorized by the Federal compact. And it doubts not that 
their sense will be so announced as to prove their attachment 
unaltered to limited government, whether general or particular. 
And that the rights and liberties of their co-States will be 
exposed to no dangers by remaining embarked in a common 
bottom with their own. That they will concur with this Com- 
monwealth in considering the said acts as so palpal)ly against 
the Constitution as to amount to an undisguised declaration 
that that compact is not meant to be the measure of the powers 
of the general government, but that it will proceed in the 
exercise over these States, of all powers whatsoever: that they 
will view this as seizing the rights of the States, and consolidat- 
ing them in the hands of the general government, with a power 
assumed tO' bind the States (not merely as the cases made 
federal, casus foederis), but in all cases whatsoever, by laws 
made, not with their consent, but by others against their con- 
sent: that this would be to surrender the form of government 
we have chosen, and live under one deriving its powers from its 
own will, and not from our authority; and that the co-States, 
recurring to their natural right in cases not made federal, will 
concur in declaring these acts void, and of no force, and will 
each take measures of its own for providing that neither these 
acts, nor any other of the general government not plainly and 
intentionally authorized by the Constitution, shall be exercised 
within their respective territories. 

9. Resolved, That the said committee be authorized to com- 
municate by writing or personal conferences, at any times or 
places whatever, with any person or persons who may be ap- 
pointed by any one or more co-States to correspond or confer 
with them; and that they lay their proceedings before the next 
session of Assembly. 

Kings. — These are our grievances which we have thus laid 



2go THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

before His Majesty, with that freedom of language and senti- 
ment which becomes a free people claiming their rights as de- 
rived from the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief 
magistrate. Let those flatter who fear, it is not an American act. 
They know, and will therefore say, that kings are the servants, 
not the proprietors, of the people. (From "A Summary View," 
1774. F. I., 446.) 

Kings. — So much for the blessings of having kings and mag- 
istrates who would be kings. From these events our growing 
Republic may learn useful lessons, never to call on foreign 
powers to settle their differences, to guard against hereditary 
magistrates, to prevent their citizens from becoming so estab- 
lished in wrath and power as to be thought worthy of alliance 
by marriage with the nieces, sisters, etc., of kings, and, in short, 
to besiege the throne of heaven with eternal prayers, to extir- 
pate from creation this class of human lions, tigers and mam- 
moth called kings; from whom let him perish who does not 
say, "Good Lord, deliver us." (To Colonel Humphreys, 1787. 
C H., 253.) 

Kings. — The practice of kings marrying only in the families 
of kings has been that of Europe for some centuries. Now, take 
any race of animals, confine them in idleness and inaction, 
whether in a stile, a stable or a state-room, pamper them with 
high diet, gratify all their sexual appetites, immerse them in 
sensualities, nourish their passions, let everything bend before 
them, and banish whatever might lead them to think, and in a 
few generations they become all body and no mind; and this, 
too, by a law of nature, by that very law by which we are in 
constant practice of changing the characters and propensities 
of the animals we raise for our own purposes. Such is the 
regimen in raising kings, and in this way they have gone on for 
centuries. While in Europe, I often amused myself with con- 
templating the characters of the then reigning sovereigns of 
Europe. Louis XVL was a fool, of my own knowledge, and in 
despite of the answers made for him at his trial. The King of 
Spain was a fool, and of Naples the same. They passed their 
lives in hunting, and despatched two couriers a week, one thou- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 29I 

sand miles, to let each other know what game they had killed 
the preceding days. The King of Sardinia was a fool. All 
these were Bourbons. The Queen of Portugal, a Braganza, 
was an idiot by nature, and so was the King of Denmark. 
Their sons, as regents, exercised the powers of governments. 
The King of Prussia, successor to the great Frederick, w'as a 
mere hog in body as well as in mind. Gustavus of Sweden and 
Joseph of Austria were really crazy, and George of England, 
as you know, was in a straight waistcoat. There remained then 
none but old Catharine who had been too lately picked up to 
have lost her common sense. In this state Bonaparte found 
Europe; and it was this state of its rulers which lost it w'ith 
scarce a struggle. These animals had become without mind and 
powerless; and so will every hereditary monarch be after a few 
generations. Alexander, the grandson of Catharine, is as yet 
an exception. He is able to hold his own, but he is only of 
the third generation. His race is not yet worn out. And so 
endeth the book of kings, from all of whom the Lord deliver 
us, and have you, my friend, and all such good men and true 
in his holy keeping. (To Governor Langdon, 18 10. C. V., 

514.) 

Kosciusko. — I see Kosciusko often and with great pleasure 
mixed with commiseration. He is as pure a son of liberty as I 
have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and 
not to the few or the rich alone. (To Horatius Gates, 1798. 
F. VH., 204.) 

LaFayette. — Your principles are decidedly with the tiers 
etat, and your instructions against them. A compliance to the 
latter on some occasions and an adherence to the former on 
others, may give an appearance of trimming between the two 
parties which may lose you both. You will in the end go over 
wholly to the tiers etat, because it will be impossible for you to 
live in a constant sacrifice of your own sentiments to the 
prejudices of the noblesse. But you would be received by the 
tiers etat at any future day coldly and w^ithout confidence. It 
appears to me the moment to take that honest and manly stand 
with them which your own principles dictate. This will \vin 



292 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

their hearts forever, be approved by the world which marks and 
honors you as the man of the people, and will be an eternal 
consolation to yourself. (To LaFayette, 1789. F. V., 92.) 

Land. — From the nature and purpose of civil institutions, all 
the lands within the limits which any particular society has 
circumscribed around itself are assumed by that society, and 
subject to their allotment only. This may be done by them- 
selves assembled collectively, or by their Legislature, to whom 
they have delegated sovereign authority; and if they are allotted 
in either of these ways, each individual of the society may 
appropriate to himself such lands as he finds vacant, and occu- 
pancy will give him title. (From "A Summary View," 1774. 

F. L, 445-) 

Land. — They will settle the lands in spite of everybody. 
I am at the same time clear that they should be appropriated 
in small quantities. It is said that worthy foreigners will come 
in great numbers and they ought to pay for the liberty we shall 
have provided for them. True, but make them pay in settlers. 
A foreigner who brings a settler for every 100 or 200 acres of 
land to be granted him pays a better price than if he had put 
into the public treasury five shillings or five pounds. (To^ Ed- 
mund Pendleton, 1776. F. IL, 81.) 

Land. — The earth is given a common stock for man to labor 
and live on. If for the encouragement of industry we allow it to 
be appropriated, we must take care that other employment be 
provided to those excluded from the appropriation. If we do 
not, the fundamental right to labor the earth returns to the 
unemployed. It is too soon yet in our country to say that every 
man who cannot find employment but who can find unculti- 
vated land shall be at liberty to cultivate it, paying a wholesale 
rent. But it is not too soon to provide by ever}^ possible 
means that as few as possible shall be without a little portion 
of land. The small land holders are the most precious part of 
a State. (To Rev. James Madison, 1795. F. VII., 36.) 

Languages. — In my letter of the 18th, I omitted to say any- 
thing of the languages as part of our proposed university. It 
was not that I think, as some do, that they are useless. I am 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 293 

of a very different opinion. I do not think them essential to 
the obtaining eminent degrees of science; but I think them very 
useful towards it. I suppose there is a portion of life during 
which our faculties are ripe enough for this and for nothing 
more useful. * * * To read the Latin and Greek authors 
in their original is a sublime luxury; and I deem luxury in 
science to be at least as justifiable as in architecture, painting, 
gardening, or the other arts. I enjoy Homer in his own lan- 
guag'e infinitely beyond Pope's translation of him and both 
beyond the dull narrative of the same events by Darus Phry- 
gius; and it is an innocent enjoyment. I thank on my knees 
him who directed my early education for having put intO' my 
possession this rich source of delight; and I would not ex- 
chang'e it for anything which I could thus have acquired and 
have not since acquired. (To Joseph Priestly, 1800. F. VII., 
414.) 

Law. — I have proposed to you to carry on the study of law 
with that of politics and history. Every political measure will 
forever have an intimate connection with the laws of the land; 
and he who knows nothing of these will often be perplexed and 
often foiled by adversaries having the advantage of that knowl- 
edge over him. I would therefore propose not only the study 
but the practice of the law for some time, to possess yourself of 
the habit of public speaking. (To Thomas Mann Randolph, 
written from Paris, 1787. F, IV., 405.) 

Laws. — The experience of all ages and countries hath shown 
that cruel and sanguinary' laws defeat their own purpose, by 
engaging the benevolence of mankind to withhold prosecutions, 
to smother testimony, or to listen to it with bias; and by pro- 
ducing in. many instances a total dispensation and impunity 
under the names of pardon and privilege of clergy; when, if the 
punishment were only proportioned to the injury, men would 
feel it their inclination, as well as their duty, to see the laws 
observed; and the power of dispensation, so dangerous and 
mischievous ofttimes by holding up a hope of impunity, 
might totally be abolished, so that men while contemplating to 
perpetrate a crime would see their punishment ensuing as 



294 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

necessarily as effects follow their causes. (From a bill relating 
to crimes and punishment, 1779. F. II., 205.) 

Laws. — The instability of our laws is really an immense 
evil. I think it would be well to provide in our constitutions 
that there shall always be a twelve-month between the engross- 
ing a bill and passing it, and if circumstances should be thought 
to require a speedier passage, it should take two-thirds of both 
houses instead of a bare majority. (To James Madison, 1787. 
F. IV., 480.) 

Laws. — I agree in an almost limited condemnation of retro- 
spective laws. The few instances of wrong which they redress 
are so overweighted by the insecurity they draw over all prop- 
erty and even over life itself and by the atrocious violation of 
both to which they lead, that it is better to live under the evil 
than the remedy. (From an opinion on Soldiers' Accounts, 
1790. F. v., 176.) 

Laws. — But can laws be made unchangeable? Can one gen- 
eration bind another, and all others, in succession forever? I 
think not. The Creator has made the earth for the living, not 
for the dead. Rights and powers can only belong to persons, 
not to things, not to^ mere matter, unendowed with will. The 
dead are not even things. The particles of matter which com- 
posed their bodies, make part now of the bodies of other ani- 
mals, vegetables, or minerals, of a thousand forms. To what 
then are attached the rights and powers they hold while in the 
form of men? A generation may bind itself as long as its 
majority continues in life; when that has disappeared another 
majority is in place, holds all the rights and powers their 
predecessors once held, and may change their laws and institu- 
tions to suit themselves. Nothing then is unchangeable but 
the inherent and unalienable rights of men, (To John Cart- 
wright, 1824. C. VII., 359.) 

Lawyers of New England. — But was there ever a profound 
common lawyer known in any of the Eastern States? There 
never was, nor never can be one from those States. The basis 
of their law is neither common nor civil; it is an original, if 
any compound can so be called. Its foundation seems to have 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 295 

been laid in the spirit and principles of Jewish law, incorporated 
with some words and phrases of common law, and an abund- 
ance of notions of their own. This makes an amalgam sui 
generis, and it is well known that a man, first and thoroughly 
initiated into the principles of one system of law, can never 
become pure and sound in any other. Lord Mansfield was a 
splendid proof of this. Therefore, I say, there never was, nor 
can be a profound common lawyer from those States. (To the 
Attorney General of the United States, 1810. C. V., 550.) 

Legislatures. — The executive in our governments is not the 
sole, it is scarcely the principal object of my jealousy. The 
tyranny of the Legislature is the most formidable dread at 
present, and will be for long years. That of the executive will 
come in its turn, but it will be at a remote period. (To James 
Madison, written from Paris, 1789. F. V., 83.) 

The Legislature. — The Legislature should never show itself 
in a matter with a foreign nation, but where the case is very 
serious and they mean to commit the nation in its issue. (To 
James Madison, 1791. F. V., 392.) 

Legislatures. — Our legislatures are composed of two houses, 
the Senate and Representatives, elected in different modes, and 
for different periods, and in some States, with a qualified veto 
in the executive chief. But to avoid all temptation to superior 
pretensions of the one over the other house, and the possibility 
of either erecting itself into a privileged order, might it not be 
better to choose at the same time and in the same mode, a body 
suf^ciently numerous to be divided by lot into two separate 
houses, acting as independently as the two houses in England, 
or in our governments, and to shuffle their names together and 
redistribute them by lot, once a week, or a fortnight? This 
would equally give the benefit of time and separate deliberation, 
guard against an absolute passage by acclamation, derange 
cabals, intrigues, and the count of noses, disarm the ascendency 
which a popular demagogue might at any time obtain over 
either house, and render impressible all disputes l^etween the 
two houses, which often form such obstacles to business. (To 
M. Coray, 1823. C. VIL, 321.) 



296 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Libels. — I had no conception there were persons enough to 
support a paper whose stomachs could bear such ahment as the 
enclosed papers contain. They are far beyond even the Wash- 
ington Federalists. To punish, however, is impracticable until 
the body of the people from whom injuries are to be taken get 
their minds to rights; and even then I doubt its expediency. 
While a full range is proper for actions by individuals, either 
private or public, for slanders affecting them, I would wish 
much to see the experiment tried of getting along without 
public prosecutions for libels. I believe we can do it. Patience 
and well doing, instead of punishment, if it can be found 
sufficiently efficacious, would be a happy change in the instru- 
ments of government. (To Levi Lincoln, 1802. F. VIIL, 139.) 

Liberty. — The God who gave us life gave us liberty at the 
same time; the hand of force may destroy, but cannot disjoin 
them. (From "A Summary View," 1774. F. L, 447.) 

Liberty. — To oppose his (George IIL) arms we also have 
taken up arms. We should be wanting to ourselves, we should 
be perfidious to posterity, we should be unworthy that free an- 
cestry from which we derive our descent, should we submit 
with folded arms to military butchery and depredation, to 
gratify the lordly ambition or to sate the avarice of a British 
ministry. We do then most solemnly before God and the world 
declare that, regardless of eveiy consequence, at the risk of 
every distress, the arms we have been compelled to assume 
we will use with the perseverance, exerting to their utmost 
energies all these powers which our Creator hath given us, to 
preserve that liberty which He committed to us in sacred deposit 
and to protect from every hostile land our lives and our prop- 
erties. (From a declaration submitted to Congress declaratory 
of the reasons why Americans had taken up arms, 1775. F. L, 

474-) 

Liberty. — A government wherein the will of every one has 
a just influence, * * * enjoys a precious degree of liberty 
and happiness. It has its evils too; the principal of which is 
the turbulence to which it is subject. Malo pcriculosam liber- 
tatcm quam qiiictam servitiitem. * * * j j^q,]^^ j^ |-|-i^|- a_ 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 297 

little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary 
in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful 
rebellions indeed generally establish the encroachments on the 
rights of the people which have produced them. An obser\'a- 
tion of this truth should render honest Republican governors 
so mild in their punishment of rebellion, as not to discourage 
them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health 
of government. (To James Madison, 1787. F. IV., 362.) 

Liberty. — The ground of liberty is to be gained by inches; 
we must be contented to secure what we can get from time to 
time, and eternally press forward for what is yet to get. It 
takes time to persuade men to do even what is for their own 
good. (To Rev. Charles Clay, 1790. F. V,, 142.) 

Liberty. — This ball of liberty is now so well in motion that 
it will roll round the globe. At least the enlightened part of 
it, for light and liberty go together. It is our glory that we 
first put it into motion, and our happiness that, being foremost, 
we had no bad examples to follow. (To Tench Coxe, 1795. 
F. VII., 22.) 

Library. — Be it enacted by the General Assembly, that on the 
first day of January, in every year, there shall be paid out of 
the treasur}' the sum of two thousand pounds, to be laid out in 
such books and maps as may be proper to be preserved in a 
public library, and in defraying the expenses necessary for the 
care and preservation thereof; which library shall be established 
at the town of Richmond. (From a bill for establishing a 
Public Library, 1779. F. II., 236.) 

Libraries. — I have often thought that nothing would do more 
extensive good at small expense than the establishment of a 
small circulating library in eveiy county, to consist of a few 
well-chosen books to be lent to the people of the county, under 
such regulations as would secure their safe return in due time. 
These should be such as would give them a general view of 
other history, and a particular view of that of their own 
country, a tolerable knowledge of geography, the elements of 
natural philosophy, of agriculture and mechanics, (To Mr. 
John Wythe, 1809. C. V., 448.) 



298 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Louisiana. — The cession of Louisiana and the Floridas by- 
Spain to France works most sorely on the United States. On 
this subject the Secretary of State has written to you fully. 
Yet I cannot forbear recurring to it personally, so deep is the 
impression it makes in my mind. It completely reverses all the 
political relations of the United States and will form a new 
epoch in our political course. Of all nations of any considera- 
tion France is the one which hitherto has offered the fewest 
points on which we could have any conflict of right, and the 
most points of a communion of interests. From these causes 
we have ever looked to her as our natural friend, as one with 
which we never have occasion of difference. Her growth there- 
fore we viewed as our own, her misfortunes ours. There is on 
the globe one single spot, the possessor of which is our natural 
and habitual enemy. It is New Orleans, through which the 
produce of three-eighths of our territory must pass to market, 
and from its fertility it will ere long yield more than half of our 
whole produce and contain more than half our inhabitants. 
France placing herself in that door assumes to us the attitude 
of defiance. Spain might have retained it quietly for years. 
Her pacific dispositions, her feeble state, would induce her to 
increase our facilities there, so that her possession of the place 
would be hardly felt by us, and it would not perhaps be very 
long before some circumstance might arise which might make 
the cession of it to us the price of something of more worth to 
her. Not so can it ever be in the hands of France. The im- 
petuosity of her temper, the energy and restlessness of her char- 
acter, placed in a point of eternal friction with us, and our 
character, which, though quiet, and loving peace and the pur- 
suit of wealth, is high-minded, despising wealth in competition 
with insult or injury, enterprising and energetic as any nation on 
earth, these circumstances render it impossible that France and 
the United States can continue long friends when they meet in 
so irritable a position. They as well as we must be blind if 
they do not see this; and we must be very improvident if we 
do not begin to make arrangements on that hypothesis. Tlie 
day that France takes possession of New Orleans fixes the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 299 

sentence which is to restrain her forever within her low-water 
mark. It seals the union of two nations who in conjunction 
can maintain excUisive possession of the ocean. From that 
moment we must marry ourselves to the British fleet and 
nation. We must turn all our attentions to a maritime force, 
for which .our resources place us on very high grounds: and 
having formed and cemented together a power which may 
render reinforcement of her settlements here impossible to 
France, make the first cannon, which shall be fired in Europe 
the signal for tearing up any settlement she may have made, 
and for holding the two continents of America in sequestration 
for the common purposes of the united British and American 
nations. This is not a state of things we seek or desire. It is 
one which this measure, if adopted by France, forces on us, as 
necessarily as any other cause, by the laws of nature, brings on 
its necessary effect. It is not from a fear of France that we 
deprecate this measure proposed by her. For however greater 
her force is than ours compared in the abstract, it is nothing in 
comparison of ours when to be exerted on our soil. But it is 
from sincere love of peace, and a firm persuasion that bound 
to France by the interests and the strong sympathies still ex- 
isting in the minds of our citizens, and holding relative positions 
which ensure their continuance, we are secure of a long course 
of peace. Whereas the change of friends, which will be rendered 
necessary if France changes that position, embarks us neces- 
sarily as a belligerent power in the first war with Europe. In 
that case France will hold possession of New Orleans during the 
interval of a peace, long or short, at the end of which it wall 
be wrested from her. Will this short-lived possession have been 
an equivalent to her for the transfer of such a weight into the 
scale of her enemy? iWill not the amalgamation of a young, 
thriving nation continue to that enemy the health and force 
which are at present so evidently on the decline? And will a 
few years' possession of New Orleans add equally to the strength 
of France? She may say she needs Louisiana for the supply of 
her West Indies. She does not need it in time of peace. And in 
war she could not depend on them because they would be so 



300 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

easily intercepted. I should suppose that all these considera- 
tions might in some proper form be brought into view of the 
government of France. Tho' stated by us, it ought not to give 
offense; because we do not bring them forward as a menace, 
but as consequences not controllable by us, but inevitable from 
the course of things. We mention them not as things which 
we desire by any means, but as things we deprecate; and we 
beseech a friend to look forv\'ard and to prevent them for our 
common interests. 

If France considers Louisiana, however, as indispensable for 
her views, she might perhaps be willing to look about for ar- 
rangements which might reconcile it to our interests. If any- 
thing could do this it would be the ceding to us the island of 
New Orleans and the Floridas. This would certainly in a great 
degree remove the causes of jarring and irritation between us, 
and perhaps for such a length of time as might produce other 
means of making the measure permanently conciliatory to our 
interests and friendships. It would at any rate relieve us from 
the necessity of taking immediate measures for countervailing 
such an operation by arrangements in another quarter. Still 
we should consider New Orleans and the Floridas as equivalent 
for the risk of a quarrel with France produced by her vicinage. 
I have no doubt you have urged these considerations on every 
proper occasion with the government where you are. They are 
such as must have efTect if you can find the means of producing 
thorough reflection on them by that government. (To' the 
United States Minister to France, 1802. F. VIII., 144-146.) 

Louisiana. — On further consideration as to the amendment 
to our Constitution respecting Louisiana, I have thought it 
better instead of enumerating the powers which Congress may 
exercise, to give them the same powers as to other portions 
of the Union generally, and to enumerate the special exceptions 
in some such form as the following: "Louisiana, as ceded by 
France to the United States, is made a part of the United States, 
its white inhabitants shall be citizens and stand as to their rights 
and obligations on the same footing with other citizens of the 
United States in analogous situations. * * * Florida, also, 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 301 

whensoever it may be rightfully obtained, shall become a part 
of the United States, its white inhabitants shall thereupon be 
citizens and shall stand as to their rights and obligations on 
the same footing of others citizens of the United States in 
analogous situations." 

I quote this for your consideration, observing that the less 
is said about any constitutional difficulty the better, and that 
it will be desirable for Congress to do what is necessary, in 
silence. (To Levi Lincoln, 1803. C. IV., 504.) 

Louisiana. — With the wisdom of Congress it will rest to take 
those ulterior measures which may be necessary for the imme- 
diate occupation and temporary government of the country 
(Louisiana); for its incorporation into our Union; for rendering 
the change of government a blessing to our newly adopted 
brethren; for securing to them the rights of conscience and of 
property; for confirming to the Indian inhabitants their occu- 
pancy and self-government, establishing friendly and commercial 
relations with them and for ascertaining the geography of the 
country acquired. (From Third Annual Message to Congress, 
1803. C. VIII., 24.) 

Madison, — You probably do not know Mr. Madison person- 
ally, or at least intimately, as I do. I have known him from 
1779, when he first came into the public councils, and from 
three and thirty years' trial I can say conscientiously that I do 
not know in the world a man of purer integrity, more dispas- 
sionate, disinterested and devoted to genuine republicanism; 
nor could I, in the whole scope of America and Europe, point 
out an abler head. (To. T. C. Floumey, 1812. C. VI., 82.) 

Manufacturer. — We must now place the manufacturer by 
the side of the agriculturist. The former question is suppressed 
or assumes a new- form. Shall we make our own comforts, or go 
without them, at the will of a foreign nation ? He, therefore, who. 
is against domestic manufacture, must be for reducing us either 
to dependence on that foreign nation, or to be clothed in skins, 
and tO' live like wild beasts in dens and caverns. I am not one 
of these; experience has taught me that manufactures are now 
as necessary to our independence as to our comfort; and if those 



302 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

who quote me as of a different opinion, will keep pace with me 
in purchasing nothing foreign where an equivalent of domestic 
fabric can be obtained, without regard to difference of price, it 
will not be our fault if we do not soon have a supply at home 
equal to our demand, and wrest that weapon of distress from the 
hand which has wielded it. (To Benj. Austin, 1816. C. VI., 
522.) 

Massachusetts. — Oh, Massachusetts ! How have I lamented 
the degradation of your apostasy! Massachusetts, with whom 
I went with pride in 1776, whose vote was my vote on every 
public question, and whose principles were then the standard 
of whatever was free or fearless. But she was then under the 
counsel of the two Adams; while Strong, her present leader, 
was promoting petitions for submission to British power and 
British usurpation. While under her present counsels, she must 
be content with nothing; as having a vote, indeed, to be con- 
tented, but not respected. But should the State once more 
buckle on her Republican harness, we shall receive her again as 
a sister, and recollect her wanderings among the crimes of the 
parricide party, which would have basely sold what their fathers 
so bravely won from the same enemy. Let us look forward, 
then, to the act of repentance, which by dismissing her venal 
traitors, shall be the signal of return to the bosom and to the 
principles of her brethren; and if her late humiliation can just 
give her modesty enough to suppose that her Southern brethren 
are somewhat on a par with her in wisdom, in information, in 
patriotism, in bravery, and even in honesty, although not in 
psalm singing, she will more justly estimate her own relative 
momentum in the Union. With her ancient principles, she 
would really be great, if she did not think herself the whole. 
(To Gen. Dearborne, 1815. C. VI., 450.) 

Merchants^ Priests and Lawyers. — I join in your reproba- 
tion of our merchants, priests and lawyers, for their adherence to 
England and monarchy, in preference to their own country and 
its constitutions. But merchants have no country. The mere 
spot they stand on does not constitute so strong an attachment 
as that from which they draw their gains. In every country 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 303 

and in every age, the priest has been hostile to liberty. He is 
always in alliance with the despot, abetting his abuses in return 
for protection to his own. It is easier to accjuire them, and to 
effect this, they have perverted the best religion ever preached 
to man into mystery and jargon, unintelligible to all mankind, 
and therefore the safer engine for their purposes. \\'ith the 
lawyers it is a new thing. They have, in the mother country, 
been generally the primest supporters of the free principles of 
their constitution. But there, too, they have changed. I 
ascribe much of this to the substitution of Blackstone for my 
Lord Coke, as an elementary work. In truth, Blackstone and 
Hume have made tories of all England, and are making tories 
of those young Americans whose native feelings of independence 
do not place them above the wily sophistries of a Hume or a 
Blackstone. These two books, but especially the former, have 
done more towards the suppression of the liberties of man than 
all the millions of men in the armies of Bonaparte and the 
millions of human lives with the sacrifice of which he will stand 
loaded before the judgment seat of his Maker. I fear nothing 
for our liberty from the assaults of force; but I have seen and 
felt much, and fear more from English books, English preju- 
dices, English manners, and the apes, the dupes, and designs 
among our professional crafts. (To H. G. Spafford, 1814. C. 

VI., 334.) 

Metempsychosis. — It is not for me to pronounce on the 
hypothesis you present of a transmigration of souls from one 
body to another in certain cases. The laws of nature have with- 
held from us the means of physical knowledge of the country 
of spirits, and revelation has, for reasons unknown to us, chosen 
to leave us in the dark as we were. When I was young I was 
fond of the speculations which seemed to promise some insight 
into that hidden country, but observing at length that they left 
me in the same ignorance which they found me, I have for 
many years ceased to read or think concerning them, and have 
reposed my head on that pillow of ignorance which a benevolent 
Creator has made so soft for us, knowing how much we should 
be forced to use it. I have thought it better by nourishing the 



304 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

good passion and destroying the bad, to merit an inheritance in 
a state of being of which I can know so Httle, and to trust for the 
future tO' him who has been so good for the past. (To Rev. 
Isaac Story, 1801. F. VIII., 107.) 

Militia. — Uncertain as we must ever be of the particular point 
in our circumference where an enemy may choose to invade 
us, the only force which can be ready at every point and com- 
petent to oppose them, is the body of neighboring citizens as 
formed into a militia. On these, collected from the parts most 
convenient, in numbers proportioned to the invading foe, it is 
best to rely, not only to meet the first attack, but if it threatens 
tO' be permanent, to maintain the defence until regulars may 
be engaged to relieve them. These considerations render it 
important that we should at every session continue to amend 
the defects which from time to time show themselves in the 
laws for regulating the militia, until they are sufficiently perfect. 
Nor should we now or at any time separate, until we can say 
we have done everything for the militia which we could do 
were an enemy at our door. (From the First Annual Message, 
1801. F. VIIL, 121.) 

Ministers. — Every foreign agent depends on the double will 
of the two governments, of that which sends him, and of that 
which is to permit the exercise of his functions within their 
territory; and when either of these wills is refused or withdrawn, 
his authority to act within that territory becomes incomplete. 
(Address to the French Minister, Genet, 1793. F. VI., 465.) 

Mississippi. — I never had any interest westward of the Alle- 
ghany and I never will have any. But I have had great oppor- 
tunities of knowing the character of the people who inhabit that 
country, and I will venture to say that the act which abandons 
the navigation of the Mississippi is an act of separation between 
the Eastern and Vv^estern country. It is a relinquishment of 
five parts out of eight of the territory of the United States, an 
abandonment of the fairest subjects for the payment of our 
public debts, and the chaining those debts on our own necks 
in perpetuum. If they declare themselves a separate people. 



OF THOAIAS JEFFERSON 305 

we are incapable of a single effort to retain them. (To James 
Madison, written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 364.) 

Mississippi. — We have a right to the navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi — first, by nature; second, by treaty. It is necessary to 
us. More than half the territory of the United States is on 
the waters of that river. Two hundred thousand of our citizens 
are settled on them, of whom forty thousand bear arms. These 
have no other outlet for their tobacco, rice, corn, hemp, house 
timber, ship timber. We have hitherto respected the decision 
of Spain, because we wish peace; — because our western citizens 
have had vent at home for their productions. A surplus of 
productions begins now to demand foreign markets. When- 
ever they shall say, "We cannot, we will not, be longer shut up," 
the United States will be reduced to the following dilemma: 
First, to force them to acquiescence; second, to separate from 
them, rather than to take part in a war against Spain; third, 
to preserve them in our Union by joining them in the war. 
* * ''' Tlie third is the alternative we must adopt. (From 
instructions to the United States Charge D'Affaires in Spain, 
1790. F. v., 225.) 

Missouri Question. — The Missouri is not a moral question, 
but one merely of.power. Its object is to raise a geographical 
principle for the choice of a President, and the noise will be 
kept up until that is effected. All know that permitting the 
slaves of the South to spread into the West will not add one 
being to that unfortunate condition, that it will increase the 
happiness of those existing, and by spreading them over a 
larger surface, will dilute the evil ever^'where, and facilitate 
the means of getting finally rid of it, an event more anxiously 
wished by those on whom it presses than by the noisy pre- 
tenders to exclusive humanity. In the meantime, it is a ladder 
for rivals climbing tO' power. (To M. de La Fayette, 1820. 
C. VII., I94-) 

Monarchy. — With respect to the State of Virginia, the people 
seem to have laid aside the monarchial, and taken up the Repub- 
lican government, with as much ease as would have attended 
their throwing off an old and putting on a new suit of clothes. 



306 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Not a single throe has attended this important transformation. 
A half-dozen aristocratical gentlemen, agonizing under the loss 
of pre-eminence, have sometimes ventured their sarcasms on 
our political metamorphosis. They have been thought fitter 
objects of pity, than of punishment. (To Ben. Franklin, 1777. 
F. II., 132.) 

Monarchy. — I look up with you to the Federal convention 
for an amendment of our Federal affairs. Yet I do not view 
them in so disadvantageous a light at present as some do. And 
above all things I am astonished at some people's considering 
a kingly government as a refuge. * * * if all the evils which 
can arise among us from theRepublican form of our government 
from this day to the day of judgment could be put into a scale 
against what this country suffers from its monarchial form in a 
week, or England in a month, the latter would preponderate. 
Consider the contents of the red book in England or the 
Almanac Royale of France, and say what a people gain by 
monarchy. No race of kings has ever presented above one 
man of common sense in twenty generations. (To Benjamin 
Hawkings, written from Paris, 1787. F. IV., 426.) 

Monarchy. — The perpetual re-eligibility of the President I 
fear will make an office for life and then hereditary. I was 
much an enemy to monarchy before I came to Europe. I am 
ten thousand times more so since I have seen what they are. 
There is scarcely an evil known in these countries which may 
not be traced to their King as its source, nor a good which 
is not derived from the small fibers of Republicanism existing 
among them. I can further say with safety there is not a 
crowned head in Europe whose talents or merit would entitle 
him to be elected a vestryman by the people of any parish in 
America. (To George Washington, written in Paris, 1788. 
F. v., 8.) 

Monarchy. — I know there are some among us who would 
now establish a monarchy. But they are inconsiderable in num- 
ber and weight of character. The rising race are all Republicans. 
We were educated in royalism; no wonder if some of us retain 
that idolatry still. Our young people are educated in Republi- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 307 

canism; an apostasy from that to royalism is unprecedented 
and impossible. (To James Madison from Paris, 1789. F. 
v., 83.) 

Monarchy. — There are high names here in favor of sub- 
verting the present form of government and making way for 
a king, lords and commons, Adams, Jay, Hamilton, Knox. 
Many of the Cincinnati. The second says nothing. The third 
is open. Both are dangerous. They pant after union with 
England as the power which is to support their projects, and 
are most determined Anti-Gallicans. It is prognosticated that 
our Republic is to end with the President's life. But I believe 
they will find themselves all head and no body. (To William 
Short, 1 79 1. F. v., 362.) 

Monarchy. — Would you believe it possible that in this coun- 
try there should be high and important characters who need 
your lessons in Republicanism and who do not heed them? It 
is but too true that we have a sect preaching up and panting 
after an English constitution of kings, lords, and commons, 
and whose heads are itching for crowns, coronets and mitres. 
But our people, very good friend, are firm and unanimous in 
their principles of Republicanism, and there is no better proof of 
it than that they love what you write and read it with delight. 
(To Thomas Paine, 1792. F. VI., 87.) 

Monarchy. — While you are exterminating the monster aris- 
tocracy and pulling out the teeth and fangs of its associate 
monarchy, a contrary tendency is discovered in some here. A 
sect has shown itself among us, who declare they espoused 
our new Constitution not as a good and sufficient thing itself, 
but only as a step to an English constitution. * * * You 
will wonder to be told that it is from the Eastward that these 
champions for being lords and commons, come. They get 
some important associates from New York. * * * Too 
many of those stock-jobbers or king-jobbers have come into our 
Legislature, or rather too many of our Legislature have become 
stock-jobbers and king-jobbers. (To La Fayette, 1792. F. 

VI., 78.) 
Monarchy. — The aspect of our politics has wonderfully 



308 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

changed since you left us. In place of that noble love of liberty 
and Republican government which carried us triumphantly 
through the war, an Anglican monarchial and aristocratical 
party has sprung up, whose avowed object is to draw over us 
the substance as they have already done the forms of the British 
Government. The main body of our citizens, however, remain 
true to their Republican privileges; the whole land's interest is 
Republican, and so is a great mass of talent. Against us are 
the Executive, the Judiciary, two out of three branches of the 
legislature, all the officers of the government, all who want to 
be officers, all timid men who prefer the calm of despotism to 
the boisterous sea of liberty, British merchants and Americans 
trading on British capitals, speculators and holders in the banks 
and public funds. It w-ould give you a fever were I to name 
to you the apostates who' have gone over to these heresies, men 
who were Samsons in the field and Solomons in the council, 
but who have had their heads shorn by the harlot England. 
In short, we are likely to preserve the liberty we have obtained 
only by unremitting labors and perils. But we shall preserve 
it; and our mass of weight and wealth on the good side is 
so great as to leave no danger that force will ever be attempted 
against us. We have only to awake and snap the Lilliputian 
cords with which they have been entangling us during the first 
sleep which succeeded our labors. (To Philip Mazzei, 1796. 
F. VII., 75.) 

IMoNARCiiY. — A second class, at the head of which is our 
quondam colleague (Hamilton), are ardent for the introduction 
of monarchy, eager for armies, making more noise for a great 
naval establishment than better patriots who wish it on a 
national scale only, commensurate to our wants and our means. 
This class ought to be tolerated but not trusted. (To Henry 
Knox, 1801. F. VIII., 36.) 

Monarchy. — When I arrived at New York in 1790, to take 
a part in the administration, being fresh from the French revo- 
lution, while in its first and pure stage, and consequently some- 
what whetted up in my Republican principles, I found a state 
of things, in the general society of the place, which I could not 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 309 

have supposed possible. Being a stranger there, I was feasted 
from table to table, at large set dinners, the parties generally 
from twenty to thirty. The revolution I had left, and we had 
just gone through in the recent change of our own government, 
being the common topics of conversation. I was astonished 
to find the general prevalence of monarchial sentiments, inso- 
much that in maintaining those of Republicanism, I had always 
the whole company on my hands, never scarcely finding among 
them a single co-advocate in that argument, unless some old 
member of Congress happened to be present. The furthest 
that any one would go, in support of the Republican features of 
our new government, would be to say, "The present Constitu- 
tion is well as a beginning, and m.ay be allowed a fair trial; 
but it is, in fact, only a stepping stone to something better." 
Among the writers, Denny, the editor of the Portfolio, wdio 
was a kind of oracle with them, and styled the Addison of 
America, openly avowed his preference of monarchy over all 
other forms of government, prided himself on the avowal, and 
maintained it by argument freely and without reserve, in his 
publications. I do not, myself, know that the Essex junto 
of Boston w-ere monarchists, but I have always heard it so said 
and never doubted. * * * Monarchy, to be sure, is now 
defeated and they wish it should be forgotten that it was ever 
advocated. They see that it is desperate, and treat its imputa- 
tion to them as a calumny; and I verily believe that none of 
them have it now in direct aim. Yet the spirit is not done away. 
The same party takes now what they deem to next best ground, 
the consolidation of the government ; the giving to the Federal 
member of the government, by unlimited constructions of the 
Constitution, a control over all the functions of the States, and 
the concentration of all power ultimately at Washington. (To 
William Short, 1825. C. VII., 390.) 

!MoNEY. — The proportion between the values of gold and 
silver is a mercantile problem altogether. The legal proportion 
in Spain is 16 for i; in England 15^- for i; in France 15 for i. 
* * * Just principles will lead us to disregard legal propor- 
tions altogether; to enquire into the market price of gold in the 



310 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

several countries with which we shall principally be connected in 
commerce, and to take an average from them. Perhaps we 
might with safety have to proportion somewhat above par for 
gold, considering our neighborhood and commerce with the 
sources of the coins, and the tendency which the high price of 
gold in Spain has, to draw thither all that of their mines, leaving 
silver principally for our other markets. It is not impossible 
that 15 for I may be found an eligible proportion. I state it, 
however, as a conjecture only. (From "Notes on the Estab- 
lishment of a Monetary Unit and of a coinage for the United 
States," 1784. F. III., 452.) 

Money. — Resolved, that the money unit of these States 
shall be equal In value to a Spanish milled dollar containing so 
much fine silver as the enquiry before directed shall show to be 
contained on an average in dollars of the several dates in circu- 
lation with us. That the unit shall be divided into fractions 
decimally expressed. That there shall be a coin of silver of 
the value of an unit, one other of the same metal of one-tenth 
of an unit, one other of copper of the value of the hundredth of 
an unit. That there shall be a coin of gold of the value of ten 
units. (From a draft of a report presented to Congress, 1784. 
F. III., 391.) 

Money. — It would be best that our medium should be so 
proportioned to our produce, as to be on a par with that of 
the countries with which we trade, and whose medium is in a 
sound state; that specie is the most perfect medium, because 
it will preserve its own level; because having intrinsic and 
universal value, it can never die in our hands, and it is the 
surest resource of reliance in time of war; the trifling economy 
of paper, as a cheaper medium, or its convenience for trans- 
mission, weighs nothing in opposition to the advantages of 
the precious metals; that it is liable to be abused, has been, is, 
and forever will be abused in every country in which it is per- 
mitted; that it is already at a term of abuse in these States, 
which has never been reached by any other nation, France 
excepted, whose dreadful catastrophe should be a warning 
against the instrument which produced it; that we are already 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 311 

at ten or twenty times the due quantity of medium ; and that it is a 
palpable falsehood to say we can have specie for our paper when- 
ever demanded. Instead, then, of yielding to the cries of scarcity 
of medium set up by speculation, projectors and commercial job- 
bers, no endeavor should be spared to begin the work of reduc- 
ing it by such gradual means as may give time to private for- 
tunes to preser^'e their poise, and settle down with the subsiding 
medium; and that, for this purpose, the States should be urged 
to concede to the general government, with a saving of char- 
tered rights, the exclusive power of establishing banks of 
discount for paper. (To J. W. Eppes, 18 13. C. VI., 246.) 

Money. — I should say, put down all banks, admit none but 
a metallic circulation, that will take its proper level with the 
like circulation in other countries, and then our manufacturers 
may work in fair competition with those of other countries, 
and the import duties which the government may lay for the 
purposes of revenue will so far place them above equal com- 
petition. (To Mr. Pinckney, 1820. C. VII., 180.) 

Monroe Doctrine. — I could honestly, therefore, join in the 
declaration proposed, that we aim not at the acquisition of any 
of those possessions, that we will not stand in the way of any 
amicable arrangement between them and the mother country; 
but that we will oppose, with all our means, the forcible inter- 
position of any other power, as auxiliary, stipendiary, or under 
any other form or pretext, and most especially, their transfer to 
any power by conquest, cession or acquisition in any other way. 
(To James Monroe, 1823. C. VII., 317.) 

Monticello. — And our own dear Monticello, where has nature 
spread so rich a mantle under the eye? i\Iountains, forests, 
rocks, rivers. With what majesty do we there ride above the 
storms! How sublime to look down into the workhouse of 
nature, to see her clouds, hail, snow, rain, thunder, all fabricated 
at our feet! And the glorious sun when rising as if out of a 
distant water, just gilding the tops of the mountains, and giving 
life to all nature. (To Mrs. Maria Cosway, written in Paris, 
1786. F. IV., 316.) 



312 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Morality. — The moral sense or conscience is as much a part 
of man as his leg or arm. It is given to all human beings in a 
stronger or weaker degree, as force of members is given them 
in a greater or less degree. It may be strengthened by exercise, 
as may any particular limb of the body. This sense is submitted 
indeed in some degree to the guidance of reason; but it is a 
small stock which is required for this; even a less one than 
what we call common sense. State a moral case to a ploughman 
and a professor. The former will decide it as well, and often 
better, than the latter, because he has not been led astray by 
artificial rules. (To Peter Carr, 1787. F. IV., 429.) 

Morality. — Reading, reflection and time have convinced me 
that the interests of society require the observation of those 
moral precepts only in which all religions agree (for all forbid 
us to murder, steal, plunder or bear false witness); and that w^e 
should not intermeddle with the particular dogmas in which 
all religions differ, and which are totally unconnected with 
morality. In all of them we see good men, and as many in one 
as another. The varieties in the structure and action of the 
human mind as in those of the body, are the work of our 
Creator, against which it cannot be a religious duty to erect 
the standard of uniformity. The practice of morality being 
necessary for the w^ell-being of society, he has taken care to 
impress its precepts so indelibly on our hearts that they shall 
not be effaced by the subtleties of our brain. We all agree in 
the obligation of the moral precepts of Jesus, and nowhere 
will they be found delivered in greater purity than in his dis- 
courses. (To James Fishback, 1809, C. V., 471.) 

Morality. — The answer is that nature has constituted utility 
to man the standard and best of virtues. Men living in different 
countries, under different circumstances, different habits and 
regimens, may have different utilities; the same act, therefore, 
may be useful, and consequently virtuous in one country which 
is injurious and vicious in another differently circumstanced. I 
sincerely, then, believe with you in the general existence of a 
moral instinct. I think it is the brightest gem with which the 
human character is studded, and the want of it as more degrad- 



.OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 313 

ing than the most hideous of the bodily deformities. (To 
Thomas Law, 18 14. C. VL, 351.) 

Morals. — Morals were too essential to the happiness of man- 
kind to be risked on the uncertain combination of the head. 
Nature laid their foundation, therefore, in sentiment, not in 
science. That she gave to all as necessary to all; this to a few 
only, as sufficing for a few. * * * ^ f^^y facts will suffice 
to prove that nature has not organized reason for our moral 
direction. * * * jf q^j. country, wdien pressed with wTongs 
at the point of the bayonet, had been governed by its heads 
instead of its hearts, where should we have been now? Hanging 
on a gallows as high as Haman's. The heads began to calculate 
and compare numbers; the hearts threw up a few pulsations of 
their warmest blood; they supplied enthusiasm against wealth 
and numbers; they put their existence to the hazard when the 
hazard seemed against us, and they saved the country; justifying 
the ways of Providence, whose precept is to always do what is 
right and leave the issue tO' him. (To Mrs. Maria Cosway, 
written in Paris, 1782. F. IV., 320.) 

Morris, Gouverneur. — Incident to these, only one circum- 
stance has perhaps not reached you: the opposition to that of 
Gouverneur IMorris upon the following principles: First, his 
general character, beings such that we would not confide in it; 
second, his known attachment to monarchy and contempt of 
Republican government; third, his present employment abroad 
being a news vender of back lands and certificates. (To Arclii- 
bald Stuart, 1791. F. V., 454.) 

Music. — If there is a gratification which I envy any people 
in this world it is to your country its music. This is the favorite 
passion of my soul and fortune has cast my lot in a country 
where it is in a state of deplorable barbarism. (To a friend in 
Europe, 1778. F. II., 158.) 

Names. — I agree wath you entirely in condemning the mania 
of giving names to objects of any kind after persons still living. 
Death alone can seal the title of any man to this honor by 
putting it out of his power to forfeit it. (To Benjamin Rush, 
1800. F. VII., 460.) 



314 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

National Government. — It is a singular phenomenon that 
while our State governments are the very best in the world, 
without exception or comparison, our general government has 
in the rapid course of nine or ten years become more arbitrary 
and has swallowed up more of the public liberty than even that 
of England. (To John Taylor, 1798. F. VII., 311.) 

National University. — Education is here placed among the 
articles of public care, not that it would be proposed to take its 
ordinary branches out of the hands of private enterprise, which 
manages so much better all the concerns to which it is equal; 
but a public institution can only supply those sciences which, 
though rarely called for, are yet necessary to complete the 
circle, all the parts of which contribute to the improvement of 
the country, and some of them to its preservation. The subject 
is now proposed for the consideration of Congress, because, if 
approved, by the time the State Legislature shall have delib- 
erated on this extension of the federal trusts, and the laws 
shall be passed, and other arrangements made for their execu- 
tion, the necessary funds will be on hand and without employ- 
ment. I suppose an amendment to the Constitution, by consent 
of the States, necessary, because the objects now recommended 
are not among the enumerated in the Constitution, and to which 
it permits the public moneys to be applied. 

The present consideration of a national establishment for 
education, particularly, is rendered proper by this circumstance 
also, that if Congress, approving the proposition, shall yet think 
it more eligible to found it on donation of lands, they have it 
now in their power to endow it with those which will be among 
the earliest to produce the necessary income. This foundation 
would have the advantage of being independent of war, which 
may suspend other improvements by requiring for its own pur- 
poses the resources destined for them. (Sixth Annual Message, 
1806. F. VIII., 494-) 

Naturalization. — All persons who by their own oath or affir- 
mation, or by other testimony shall give satisfactory proof to 
any court of record in this Colony that they propose to reside 
in the same seven years at the least, and who shall subscribe 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 315 

to the fundamental laws, shall be considered as residents and 
entitled to all the rights of persons natural born. (From a 
proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. F. II., 26.) 

Naturalization. — I cannot omit recommending a revisal of 
the laws on the subject of naturalization. Considering the ordi- 
nary chances of human life, a denial of citizenship under a resi- 
dence of fourteen years is a denial to a great proportion of those 
who ask it, and controls a policy pursued from their first settle- 
ment by many of these States ; and still believed of consequence 
to their prosperity. And shall we refuse the unhappy fugitives 
from distress that hospitality which the savages of the wilderness 
extended to our fathers arriving in this land? Shall oppressed 
humanity find no asylum on this globe? The Constitution, 
indeed, has wisely provided that, for admission to certain offices 
of important trust, a residence shall be required sufficient to 
develop character and design. But might not the general 
character and capabilities of a citizen be safely communicated 
to every one manifesting a bona fide purpose of embarking his 
life and fortunes permanently with us? With restrictions, per- 
haps, to guard against the fraudulent usurpation of our flag; an 
abuse which brings so much embarrassment and loss on the 
genuine citizen; and so m.uch danger to the nation of being in- 
volved in war, that no endeavor should be spared to detect and 
suppress it. (First Annual Message, 1801. F. VIII., 124.) 

Navigation of the Mississippi. — We cannot omit this occa- 
sion of urging on the Court of Madrid the necessity of hastening 
a final acknowledgment of our right to navigate the Mississippi ; 
a right which has long been suspended in exercise, with extreme 
inconvenience on our part merely with a desire of reconciling 
Spain to what it is impossible for us to relinquish. (To U. S. 
Charge D' Affaires in Spain, 1791. F. V., 298.) 

Navigation. — If w^e appeal to the law of nature and nations 
as we feel it written in the heart of man, what sentiment is 
written in deeper characters than that the ocean is free to all 
men, and the rivers to all their inhabitants? Is there a man, 
savage or civilized, unbiased by habit, who does not feel and 
attest this tribute? Accordingly in all tracts of country united 



3l6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

under the same political, society, we find this natural right uni- 
versally acknowledged and protected by laying the navigable 
rivers open to all their inhabitants. (From a report on Negotia- 
tion with Spain, 1792. F. V., 468.) 

Navigation. — Our navigation involves still higher considera- 
tions. As a branch of industry, it is valuable, but as a resource 
of defense essential. Its value as a branch of industry is en- 
hanced by the dependence of so many other branches on it. 
In times of general peace it multiplies competitors for employ- 
ment in transportation, and so keeps that at its proper level; 
and in times of war, that is to say, wdien those nations who may 
be our principal carriers, shall be at war with each other, if we 
have not within ourselves the means of transportation, our 
produce must be exported in belligerent vessels, at the increased 
expense of war-freight and insurance, and the articles which 
will not bear that must perish on our hands. 

But it is as a source of defense that our navigation will admit 
neither negligence nor forbearance. The position and circum- 
stances of the United States leave them nothing to fear on their 
land-board, and nothing to desire beyond their present rights. 
But on their sea-board they are open to injury, and they have 
there, too, a commerce which must be protected. This can 
only be done by possessing a respectable body of citizen seamen, 
and of artists and establishments in readiness for ship-building. 
(From a report on the Commerce of the United States, 1793. 
F. VI., 480.) 

Navy. — We have two plans to pursue. The one to carry 
nothing for ourselves and thereby render ourselves invulnerable 
to the European states, the other (which our country will be 
for) is tO' carry as much as possible. But this will require a 
protecting force on the sea. Otherwise the smallest power in 
Europe, every one which possesses a single ship oi the line, may 
dictate to us and enforce their demands by captures on our 
commerce. Some naval force, then, is necessary if we mean to 
be commercial. (To James Monroe, 1785. F, IV., ^2.) 

Navy. — I believe I shall have to advertise for a Secretary of 
the Navy. General Smith is performing the duties gratis, as 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 317 

he refuses both commission and salary, even his expenses, lest 
it should affect his seat in the House of Representatives. (To 
Gouverneur Morris, 1801. F. VIII., 49.) 

Negroes. — Never yet could I find that a black had uttered a 
thought above the level of plain narration; never seen even an 
elementary trait of painting or sculpture. In music they are 
generally more gifted than the whites, with accurate ears for 
tune and time, and they have been found capable of imagining 
a small catch. Whether they will be equal to the composition 
of a more extensive run of melody, or of complicated harmony, 
is yet to be proved. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 
246.) 

Negroes. — Whether further observation will or will not 
verify the conjecture that nature has been less bountiful to them 
in the endowments of the head, I believe that in those of the 
heart she will be found tO' have done them justice. That dis- 
position to theft with which they have been branded must be 
ascribed to their situation, and not tO' any depravity of the 
moral sense. The man in whose favor no laws of property 
exist, probably feels himself less bound to respect those made in 
favor of others. * * * It is a problem which I give to the 
master to solve whether the slave may not justifiably take a 
little from one who has taken all from him, as he may slay one 
who w-ould slay him? (From ''Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. 

III., 249) 

Negroes. — It will probably be asked, "Why not retain and 
incorporate the blacks (after the proposed emancipation) into 
the State and thus save the expense of supplying by importa- 
tion of white settlers, the vacancies they will leave?" Deep rooted 
prejudices entertained by the whites; ten thousand recollections 
by the blacks, of the injuries they have sustained; new provoca- 
tions; the real distinctions which nature has made; and many 
other circumstances will divide us into parties, and produce 
convulsions, which will probably never end but in the extermina- 
tion of the one or the other race. (From "Notes on Virginia," 
1782. F. III., 244.) 

Negroes. — Nobody wisl:es niore tlian I do to see such proofs 



3l8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

as you exhibit that nature has given to our black brethren 
talents equal to those of the other colors of men, and that the 
appearance of the want of them is owing merely to the degraded 
condition of their existence both in Africa and America. I 
can add with truth that nobody wishes more ardently to see a 
good system commenced for raising the condition of their body 
and mind to what it ought to be, as fast as the imbecility of 
their present existence, and other circumstances which cannot 
be neglected, will admit. (To Benjamin Bainecker, 1791. F. 

v., 378.) 

Neighbors. — The testimony of my native country, of the 
individuals who have known me in private life, tO' my conduct 
in its various duties and relations, is the more grateful, as pro- 
ceeding from eye witnesses and observers, from triers of the 
vicinage. Of you, then, my neighbors, I may ask, in the face 
of the world, "Whose ox have I taken, or whom have I de- 
frauded? Whom have I oppressed, or of whose hand have I 
received a bribe to blind my eyes therewith?" On your verdict 
I rest with conscious security. (To the inhabitants of Albe- 
marle County, 1809. C. V., 439.) 

Nepotism. — Bringing into office no desires of making it sub- 
servient to the advancement of my own private interests, it has 
been no sacrifice, by postponing them, to strengthen the con- 
fidence of my fellow citizens. But I have not felt equal indif- 
ference towards excluding merit from office, merely because it 
was related tO' me. However, I have thought it my duty so to 
do, that my constituents may be satisfied, that, in selecting 
persons for the management of their afifairs, I am influenced by 
neither personal nor family interests, and, especially, that the 
field of pubhc office will not be perverted by me into a family 
property. (To Horatio Turpin, 1807. C. V., 90.) 

Nepotism. — In the course of the trusts I have exercised 
through life with powers of appointment, I can say with truth, 
and with unspeakable comfort, that I never did appoint a 
relation to office, and that merely because I never saw the case 
in which some one did not ofifer, or occur, better quahfied. (To 
J. C. Cabell, 1824. C. VH., 331.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 319 

Nepotism. — The public will never be made to believe that 
an appointment of a relative is made on the ground of merit 
alone, uninfluenced by family views; nor can they ever see with 
approbation offices the disposal of which they entrust to their 
Presidents for public purposes divided out as family property. 
* * * It is true that this places the relatives of the Presi- 
dent in a worse situation than if he were a stranger, but the 
public good which cannot be affected if its confidence be lost 
requires the sacrifice. Perhaps, too, it is compensated by shar- 
ing in the public esteem. 

News. — Every one may obsen,'e by recollecting that when he 
has been long absent from his neighborhood the small news of 
that is the most pleasing and occupies his first attention, either 
when he meets with a person from thence, or returns thither 
himself. I shall hope, therefore, that the letter in which you 
have been so good as to give me the minute occurrences in the 
neighborhood of Monticello may yet come to hand. (To 
Archibald Stuart, written from Paris, 1786. F. IV., 187.) 

Newspapers. — At a very early period of my life I determined 
never to put a sentence into any newspaper. I have religiously 
adhered to the resolution through my life and have great reason 
to be contented with it. Were I to undertake to answer the 
calumnies of the newspapers it would be more than all my time 
and twenty aids could effect. For, while I should be answering 
one, twenty new^ ones would be invented. I have thought it 
better to trust to the justice of my countrymen that they would 
judge me by what they see of my conduct on the stage where 
they have placed me. (To Samuel Smith, 1798. F. VII., 279.) 

Newspapers. — A coalition of sentiments is not for the inter- 
ests of printers. They, like the clergy, live by the zeal they 
can kindle and the schemes they can create. It is contest of 
opinion in politics as well as religion which makes us take great 
interest in them, and bestow our money liberally on those who 
furnish aliment to our appetite. The mild and simple principles 
of Christian philosophy would produce too much calm, too 
much regularity of good, to extract from its disciples a support 
for a numerous priesthood, were they not to sophisticate it. 



320 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ramify it, split it into hairs, and twist its texts till they cover the 
divine morality of its author with mysteries, and require a 
priesthood to explain them. * * * So the printers can 
never leave us in a state of perfect rest and union of opinion. 
They would be no longer useful and would have to go to the 
plough. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1801. F. VIII., 42.) 

Newspapers. — The basis of our government being the opin- 
ion of the people, the very first object should be to keep that 
right; and were it left to me to decide whether we should have 
a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a 
government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter. 
But I should mean that every man should receive these papers 
and be capable of reading them. (To Edward Carrington, writ- 
ten from Paris, 1787. F. IV., 360.) 

Newspapers. — To your request of my opinion of the manner 
in which a newspaper should be conducted, so^ as to be most 
useful, I should answer, "by restraining it to true facts and 
sound principles only." Yet I fear such a paper would find few 
subscribers. It is a melancholy truth, that a suppression of the 
press could not more completely deprive the nation of its bene- 
fits, than is done by its abandoned prostitution to falsehood. 
Nothing can now be believed which is seen in a newspaper. 
Truth itself becomes suspicious by being put into that polluted 
vehicle. The real extent of this state of misinformation is 
known only to those who are in situations tO' confront facts 
within their knowledge with the lies of the day. I really look 
with commiseration over the great body of my fellow citizens 
who, reading newspapers, live and die in the belief that they 
have known something of what has been passing in the world 
in their time; whereas, the accounts they have read in news- 
papers are just as true a history of any other period of the 
world as of the present, except that the real names of the day 
are affixed to their fables. General facts may indeed be collected 
from them, such as that Europe is now at war, that Bonaparte 
has been a successful warrior, that he has subjected a great 
portion of Europe to his wiH, etc., etc.; but no details can be 
relied upon. I will add, that the man who never looks into a 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 32 1 

newspaper is better informed than he who reads them; inasmuch 
as he who knows nothing is nearer to truth than he whose mind 
is filled with falsehoods and errors. (To John Norvell, 1807. 
C v., 91.) 

Newspapers. — See The Press. 

Newspaper Correspondence. — I never did in my life, either 
by myself or by any other, have a sentence of mine inserted in a 
newspaper without putting my name to it; and I believe I 
never shall. (To John Adams, 1791. F. V., 355.) 

Non-intercourse. — The idea seems to gain credit that the 
naval powers combined against France will prohibit supplies 
even of provisions to that country. Should this be formally 
notified I should suppose Congress would be called, because 
it is a justifiable cause of war. * * * But I should hope 
war would not be their choice. I think it will furnish a happy 
opportunity of setting another example to the world, by show- 
ing nations may be brought to^ do justice by appeals to their 
interests as well as by appeals to their arms. I should hope that 
Congress instead of a denunciation of war would instantly 
exclude from our ports all the manufactures, produce, vessels 
and subjects of the nations committing this aggression during 
the continuance of the aggression and till full satisfaction made 
for it. This would work well in many ways, safely in all, and 
introduce between nations another empire than arms. It would 
relieve us, too, from the risks and the horrors of cutting throats. 
(To James Madison, 1793. F. VI., 192.) 

Novels. — A great obstacle to good education is the inordi- 
nate passion prevalent for novels, and the time lost in that 
reading which should be instructively employed. When this 
passion infects the mind, it destroys its tone and revolts it 
against wholesome reading. Reason and fact, plain and una- 
dored, are rejected. Nothing can gain attention unless dressed 
in all the figments of fancy, and nothing so bedecked comes 
amiss. The result is a bloated imagination, sickly judgment, 
and disgust towards all the real business of life. This mass of 
trash, however, is not without some distinction; some few 
modelling their narratives, although fictitious, on the incidents 



322 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of real life, have been able to make them interesting and useful 
vehicles of a sound morality. Such, I think, are Marmontel's 
new moral-tales, but not his old ones; which are really im- 
moral. Such are the writings of Miss Edgeworth, and some of 
those of Madame Genlis. For a like reason, too, much poetry 
should not be indulged. Some is useful for forming style and 
taste. Pope, Dryden, Thompson, Shakespeare, and of the 
French, Moliere, Racine, the Corneilles, may be read with 
pleasure and improvement. (To N. Burwell, 1818. C. VII., 
loi.) 

Nullification. — See Kentucky Resolutions. 

Offices. — In our country you know talents alone are not to 
be the determining circumstance, but a geographical equi- 
librium is to a certain degree expected. The different parts in 
the Union expect to share the public appointments. (To 
Horatio Gates, 1801. F. VIII., 11.) 

Offices. — That some ought to be removed from office, and 
that all ought not, all mankind will agree. But where to draw 
the line perhaps no two will agree. Consequently, nothing like 
a general approbation on this subject can be looked for. Some 
principles have been the subject of conversation, but not to 
determination; e. g., all appointments to civil offices during 
pleasure made after the event of the election was certainly 
known tO' Mr. Adams are considered as nullities. I do not view 
the persons appointed as even candidates for the office, but 
make others without noticing or notifying them. Mr. Adams' 
best friends have agreed this is right. Officers who have been 
guilty of official malconduct are proper subjects of removal. 
Good men, to whom there is no^ objection but a difference of 
political principle, practised on only as far as the right of a 
private citizen will justify, are not proper subjects of removal, 
except in the cases of attorneys and marshals. The courts being 
as decidedly federal and irremovable, it is believed that Republi- 
can attorneys and marshals being the doors of entrance intO' the 
courts are indispensably necessary as a shield to the Republican 
part of our fellow citizens, which I believe is the main body of 
the people. (To William Giles, 1801. F. VIII., 25.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 323 

Offices. — With regard to appointments, I have so much con- 
fidence in the justice and good sense of the FederaHsts that I 
have no doubt they will concur in the fairness of the position 
that after they have been in the exclusive possession of all the 
offices from the very first origin of party among us to the third 
of March at nine o'clock in the night, no Republican ever 
admitted, and this doctrine newly avowed, it is now perfectly 
just that the Republicans should come in for the vacancies 
which may fall in until something like an equilibrium in office 
be restored; after which Tros Tyriusqiie nullo discrimine 
habetiir. * * * Qf the thousand of officers in the United 
States a very few individuals only, probably not twenty will be 
removed; and these only for doing what they ought not to 
have done. * * * j know that in stopping thus short in 
the career of removal, I shall give offense to many of my friends. 
That torrent has been pressing me heavily and will require all 
my force to bear up against; but my maxim is ''Hat jiistitia, 
mat caelum.'' After the first unfavorable impressions of doing 
too much in the opinion of some and too little in that of others 
shall be got over, I should hope a steady line of conciliation 
very practicable, and that without yielding a single Republican 
principle. (To Benjamin Rush, 1801. F. VIII., 32.) 

Offices. — Pray recommend one to me as a marshal ; and let 
him be the most respectable and inexceptionable possible; and 
especially let him be Republican. The only shield for our 
Republican citizens against the federalism of the courts is to 
have the attorneys and marshals Republicans. There is nothing 
I am so anxious about as good nominations, conscious that the 
merit as well as reputation of an administration depends as much 
upon that as on its measures. (To Archibald Stuart, 1801. F. 
VIIL, 47.) 

Offices. — In Connecticut alone a general sweep seems to be 
called on for principles of justice and policy. Their Legislature 
now sitting are removing every Republican even from the com- 
missions of the peace and the lowest offices. There then we will 
retaliate. Whilst the Federalists are taking possession of all 
the State offices, exclusively, they ought not to expect we will 



324 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

leave them the exclusive possessions of these at our disposal. 
The Republicans have some rights and must be protected. (To 
W. C. Nicholas, 1801. F. VIII., 64.) 

Offices. — When it is considered that during the late adminis- 
tration, those who were not of a particular sect of politics were 
excluded from all office; when, by a steady pursuit of this 
measure, nearly the whole offices of the United States were 
monopolized by that sect; when the public sentiment at length 
declared itself, and burst open the doors of honor and con- 
fidence to those whose opinions they more approved, was it to 
be imagined that this monopoly of office was still to be con- 
tinued in the hands of the minority? Does it violate their 
equal rights, to assert some rights in the majority also? Is it 
political intolerance to claim a proportionate share in the direc- 
tion of public affairs? Can they not harmonize in society unless 
they have everything in their own hands? If the will of the 
nation, manifested by their various elections, calls for an admin- 
istration of government according with the opinions of those 
elected; if, for the fulfilment of that will, displacements are 
necessary, with whom can they so justly begin as with persons 
appointed in the last moments of an administration, not for its 
own aid, but to begin a career at the same time with their suc- 
cessors, by whom they had never been approved, and who could 
scarcely expect from them a cordial co-operation? * * * 
If a due participation of office is a matter of right, how are 
vacancies tO' be obtained? Those by death are few; by resigna- 
tion, none. Can any other mode than that by removal be 
proposed? This is a painful office; but it is made my duty, 
and I meet it as such. I proceed in the operation with delibera- 
tion and inquiry, that it may injure the best men least, and 
effect the purposes of justice and public utility with the least 
private distress; that it may be thrown, as much as possible, on 
delinquency, on oppression, on intolerance, on incompetence, 
on ante-revolutionary adherence to our enemies. * * * "[ 
lament sincerely that unessential differences of political opinion 
should ever have been deemed sufficient to interdict half the 
society from the rights and the blessings of self-government, to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 325 

proscribe them as characters unworthy of every trust. It would 
have been to me a circumstance of great relief, had I found a 
moderate participation of office in the hands of the majority. 
I would gladly have left to time and accident to raise them to 
their just share. But their total conclusion calls for prompter 
corrections. I shall correct the procedure; but that done, shall 
disdain to follow it, and return with joy to that state of things, 
when the only question concerning a candidate shall be, Is he 
honest? Is he capable? Is he faithful to the Constitution? 
(To Elias Shipman and Others, 1801. F. VIII., 69-70.) 

Offices. — These letters all relating to office fall Vv'ithin the 
general rule, which even the very first week of my being engaged 
in the administration obliged me to establish, to wdt, that of not 
answering letters on office specifically, but leaving the answer 
to be found in what is done or not done on them. You will 
readily conceive into what scrapes one would get by saying 
no, either with or without reason, by using a softer language 
which might excite false hope or by saying yes prematurely. 
And to> take away all offence from the silent answer, it is 
necessary to adhere to it in every case rigidly, as well with 
bosom friends as with strangers. (To Aaron Burr, 1801. F. 
VIII., 102.) 

Offices. — I still think our original idea as to office is best; 
that is, to depend, for the obtaining a first participation, on 
deaths, resignations, and delinquencies. Tliis will least afifect 
the tranquillity of the people, and prevent their giving in to the 
suggestion of our enemies, that ours has been a contest for 
office, no't for principle. This is rather a slow operation, but 
it is sure if we pursue it steadily, which, however, has not been 
done with the undeviating resolution I could have wished. To 
these means of obtaining a just share in the transaction of the 
public business, shall be added one other, to wit, removal for 
electioneering, activity, or open and industrious opposition to 
the principles of the present government, legislative and execu- 
tive. Every officer of the government may vote at elections 
according to his conscience; but we should betray the cause 
committed to our care, were we to permit the influence of 



326 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

official patronage to be used to overthrow the cause. (To Levi 
Lincoln, 1802. F. VIIL, 176.) 

Offices. — I have always considered the control of the Senate 
as meant to prevent any bias or favoritism in the President to- 
wards his own relations, his own religion, towards particular 
States, etc., and perhaps to keep very obnoxious persons out of 
offices of the first grade. But in all subordinate cases I have 
ever thought that the selection made by the President ought to 
inspire a general confidence that it has been made on due 
inquiry and investigation of character, and that the Senate 
should interpose their negative only in those particular cases 
where something happens to be within their knowledge against 
the character of the person and unfitting him for the appoint- 
ment. (To the Secretary of the Treasury, 1803. F. VIIL, 
211.) 

Offices. — Had you hundreds to nominate, instead of one, be 
assured they would not compose for you a bed of roses. You 
would find yourself in most cases with one loaf and ten wanting 
bread. Nine must be disappointed, perhaps become secret if 
not open enemies. The transaction of the great interests of 
our country costs as little trouble or difficulty. There the line 
is plain to men of some experience. But the task of appoint- 
ment is a heavy one indeed. He on whom it falls may envy the 
lot of a Sisyphus or Ixion. Their agonies were of the body — 
this of the mind. Yet, like the office of hangman, it must be 
executed by some one. It has been assigned to me and made 
my duty. I made up my mind to it, therefore, and abandon all 
regard to consequences. (To Larkin Smith, 1804. F. VIIL, 

337') 

Offices. — No man who has conducted himself according to 

his duties would have anything to fear from me as those who 
have done ill would have nothing to hope, be their political 
principles what they might. The obtaining an appointment 
presents new difficulties. The Republicans have been excluded 
from all offices from the first origin of the division into Repub- 
lican and Federalist. They have a reasonable claim to vacancies 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 327 

till they occupy their due share. (To Dr. B. S. Bordon, 1801. 
F. VII., 489.) 

Offices. — I have never removed a man merely because he was 
a Federalist; I have never wished them to give a vote at the 
election, but according to their own wishes. But as no govern- 
ment could discharge its duties to the best advantage of its 
citizens if its agents were in a regular course of thwarting 
instead of executing all its measures (and were employing the 
patronage and influence of their offices against the government 
and its measures), I have only requested they w^ould be quiet, 
and they should be safe; that if their conscience urges them to 
take an active and zealous part in opposition, it ought also to 
urge them to retire from a post which they could not conscien- 
tiously conduct with fidelity to the trust reposed in them; and 
on failure to retire, I have removed them; that is to say, those 
who maintained an active and zealous opposition to the govern- 
ment. (To John Page, 1807. C. V., 136.) 

Ohio River. — The Ohio is the most beautiful river on earth. 
Its current gentle, waters clear, and bosom smooth and un- 
broken and rapid, a single instance only excepted. (From 
"Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 93.) 

Oligarchy. — I fear the oligarchical executive of the French 
will not do. We have always seen a small council get into 
cabals and quarrels, the more bitter and relentless the fewer they 
are. We saw this in our committee of the States; and that they 
were from their bad passions incapable of doing the business of 
the country. I think that for the prompt, clear and consistent 
action so necessary in an executive unity of person is necessary 
as with us. (To John Adams, 1796. F. VII., 56.) 

Opinion. — For even if we differ in principle more than I be- 
lieve we do, you and I know too well the texture of the human 
mind and the slipperiness of human reason to consider differ- 
ences of opinion otherwise than differences of form or feature. 
Integrity of views more than their soundness is the basis of 
esteem. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1799. F. VII., 335.) 

OssiAN. — The poems of Ossian have been and will, I think 
during my life, continue to be to me the sources of daily pleas- 



328 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ures. The tender and sublime emotions of the mind were never 
before so wrought up by the human hand. I am not ashamed 
to own that I think this rude bard of the North the greatest 
poet that has ever existed. (To Chas. McPherson, a merchant 
of Edinburgh and a relative of James McPherson, the author 
of the Ossianic poems, 1773. F. L, 414.) 

Paine, Thomas. — A writer under the name of Publicola (J. Q. 
Adams) in attacking all Paine's principles, is very desirous of 
involving me in the same censure with the author. I certainly 
merit the same, for I profess the same principles, but it is 
equally certain I never meant to have entered as a volunteer 
into the cause. (To' James Monroe, 1791. F. V., 352.) 

Paine and Bolingbroke. — You ask my opinion of Lord 
Bolingbroke and Thomas Paine. They were alike in making 
bitter enemies of the priests and Pharisees of their day. Both 
were honest men; both advocates for human liberty. Paine 
wrote for a country which prevented him to push his reasoning 
to whatever length it would go. Lord Bolingbroke in one 
restrained by a constitution, and by public opinion. He was 
indeed a Tory; but his writings prove him a stronger advocate 
for liberty than any of his countrymen, the Whigs of the present 
day. Irritated by his exile, he committed one act unworthy of 
him, in connecting himself momentarily with a prince rejected 
by his country. But he redeemed that single act by his estab- 
lishment of the principles v/hich proved it to be wrong. These 
two persons differed remarkably in the style of their writing, 
each leaving a model of what is most perfect in both extremes 
of the simple and the sublime. No writer has exceeded Paine 
in ease and familiarity of style, in perspicuity of expression, hap- 
piness of elucidation, and in simple and unassuming language. 
In this he may be compared to Dr. Franklin; and indeed his 
Common Sense was for a while believed to^ have been written 
by Dr. Franklin, and published under the borrowed name of 
Paine, who had come over with him from England. Lord 
Bolingbroke's, on the other hand, is a style of the highest order. 
The lofty, rhythmical, full-flowing eloquence of Cicero! Periods 
of just measure, their members proportioned, their close full 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 329 

and round. His conceptions, too, are bold and strong, his 
doctrine copious, polished and commanding as his subject. His 
writings are certainly the finest samples in the English lan- 
guage of the eloquence proper for the Senate. His political 
tracts are safe reading for the most timid religionist, his philo- 
sophical, for those who are not afraid to trust their reason with 
discussions of right and wrong. (To^ Francis Eppes, 1881. C. 
VII., 198.) 

Paper Money. — I wish it were possible to obtain a single 
amendment to our Constitution. I would be willing to depend 
on that alone for the reduction of the administration of our 
government to the genuine principles of its Constitution; I 
mean an additional article taking from the Federal Government 
the power of borrowing. I now deny their power of making 
paper money or anything else a legal tender. I know that to 
pay all proper expenses within the year would in case of war be 
hard upon us. But not so hard as ten wars instead of one. 
(To John Taylor, 1798. F. VII., 310.) 

Pardons. — I have made it a rule tO' grant no pardon in any 
criminal case, but on the recommendation of the judges who 
sat on trial, and the district attorney, or two of them. I be- 
lieve it a sound rule, and not to be departed from but in extra- 
ordinary cases. (To Albert Gallatin, 1806. F. VIII., 465.) 

Parliament. — We conceive that the British Parliament has 
no right to intermeddle with our provisions for the support of 
civil government or administration of justice. The provisions 
we have made are such as please ourselves; they answer the 
substantial purposes of government and justice, and other pur- 
poses than these should not be answered. While Parliament 
pursue their plan of civil government within their own jurisdic- 
tion, we hope also to pursue ours without molestation. (From 
a report on Lord North's "Conciliatory Propositions," 1775. 
F. I., 480.) 

Parole. — With respect to the parole men my sentiments are 
these: that I unwarily entered into an engagement of which 
the laws of my country would not permit me to fulfill I should 
certainly deliver myself to the enemy to cancel that engagement 



330 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

and free my personal honor from imputation. (To Thomas 
Nelson, 1781. F. II., 435.) 

Parole. — By the law of nations a breach of parole can only 
be punished by strict confinement. I would willingly suppose 
that no British officer had ever expressed a contrary purpose. 
It has, however, become my duty to declare that should such a 
threat be carried into execution, it will be deemed as putting 
prisoners to death in cold blood, and shall be followed by the 
execution of so many British prisoners in our possession. (To 
a British General, 1781. F. II., 512.) 

Parties. — Parties seem to have taken a very well defined form 
in this quarter. The old Tories, joined by our merchants who 
trade in British capital, paper dealers, stock-brokers and the 
idle rich of the great commercial towns are with the kings. 
All other descriptions with the French. The war (between 
France and England) has kindled and brought forward the two 
parties with an ardour which our own interests merely could 
never excite. The war between France and England has 
brought fonvard the Republicans and Monocrats in every State 
so openly that their relative numbers are perfectly visible; it 
appears that the latter are as nothing. (To James Madison, 
1793. F. VI., 326.) 

Parties. — Two parties then do exist in the United States. 
They embrace respectively the following description of persons: 

The anti-Republicans consist of 

1. The old refugees and Tories. 

2. The British merchants residing among us, and comprising 
the main body of our merchants. 

3. American merchants trading in British capital. Another 
great portion. 

4. Speculators and holders in the banks and public funds. 

5. Officers of the Federal Government, with some excep- 
tions. 

6. Office hunters willing to give up principles for places. A 
numerous and noisy tribe. 

7. Nervous persons, whose languid fibres have more analogy 
with a passive than an active state of things. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 331 

The Republican party of the Union comprehends: 

1. The entire body of land-holders throughout the United 
States. 

2. The body of labourers not being land-holders, whether in 
husbanding or the arts. (From notes on Professor Ebelling's 
letter, 1795. F. VIL, 47.) 

Parties. — Were parties here divided merely by a greediness 
for of^ce, as in England, to take a part with either would be 
unworthy of a reasonable or moral man, but where the principle 
of difference is as substantial and as strongly pronounced as 
between the RepubHcans and the Monocrats of our country, I 
hold it as honorable to take a firm and decided part, and as 
immoral to pursue a middle line as between the parties of 
honest men and rogues into which every country is divided. 
(To William Giles, 1795. F. VIL, 43.) 

Parties. — When a Constitution like ours wears a mixed aspect 
of monarchy and Republicanism its citizens will naturally divide 
into two classes of sentiment, according as their tone of body 
or mind, their habits, connections and callings induce them to 
wish to strengthen either the monarchial or Republican fea- 
tures of the Constitution. Some will consider it as an elective 
monarchy, which had better be made hereditary, and therefore 
endeavor to lead towards that all the forms and principles of 
its administration. Others will view it as an energetic republic, 
turning in all its points on the pivot of free and frequent elec- 
tions. The great body of our native citizens are unquestionably 
of the Republican sentiment. (To James Sullivan, 1797. F. 
VIL, 117.) 

Parties. — But, my dear friend, if we do not learn to sacrifice 
small differences of opinion, we can never act together. Every 
man cannot have his way in all things. If his own opinion pre- 
vails at some times, he should acquiesce on seeing that of others 
preponderate at others. Without this mutual disposition we are 
disjointed individuals, but not a society. My position is painful 
enough between Federalists who cry out on the first touch of 
their monopoly, and Republicans who clamor for universal 
removal. A subdivision of the latter will increase the perplexity. 



332 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

I am proceeding with deliberation and inquiry to do what I 
think just to both descriptions and conciliatory to both. The 
greatest good we can do our country is to heal its party divis- 
ions and make them one people, I do not speak of their leaders 
who are incurable, but of the honest and well-intentioned body 
of the people. I consider the pure Federalist as a Republican 
who would prefer a somewhat stronger executive; and the 
Republican as one more willing to trust the legislature as a 
broader representation of the people, and a safer deposit of 
power for many reasons. But both sects are Republican, en- 
titled to the confidence of their fellow citizens. Not so their 
quondam leaders covering under the mask of Federalism hearts 
devoted to monarchy. The Hamiltonians, the Essex-men, the 
revolutionary Tories, etc. They have a right to tolerance, but 
neither to confidence nor power. It is very important that the 
pure Federalist and Republican should see in the opinion of 
each other but a shade of his own, which by a union of action 
will be lessened by one-half; that they should see and fear the 
monarchist as their common enemy, on whom they should keep 
their eyes, but keep off their hands. (To John Dickinson, 1801. 
F. VIII., 76.) 

Parties. — We shall now be so strong that we shall certainly 
split again; for freemen thinking dififerently and speaking and 
acting as they think, will form into classes of sentiment, but it 
must be under another name; that of Federalism is to become 
so scanted that no party can rise under it. As the division be- 
tween Whig and Tory is founded in the nature of men, the 
weakly and nerveless, the rich and the corrupt, seeing more 
safety and accessibility in a strong executive; the healthy, firm 
and virtuous feeling confidence in their physical and moral 
resources, and willing to part with only so much power as is 
necessary for their good government, and therefore to retain 
the rest in the hands of the many, the division will substantially 
be into Whig and Tory, as in England, formerly. (To Joel 
Barlow, 1802. F. VIII., 150.) 

Parties. — I tolerate with the utmost latitude the right of 
others to dififer from me in opinion without imputing to them 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 333 

criminality. I know too well the weakness and uncertainty of 
human reason to wonder at its different results. Both of our 
political parties, at least the honest portion of them, agree con- 
scientiously in the same object — the public good; but they 
differ essentially in what they deem the means of promoting 
that good. One side believes it best done by one composition 
of the governing powers; the others, by a different one. One 
fears most the ignorance of the people; the other, the selfish- 
ness of rulers independent of them. Which is right, time and 
experience will prove. We think that one side of this experi- 
ment has been long enough tried, and proved not to promote 
the good of the many; and that the other has not been fairly 
and sufficiently tried. Our opponents think the reverse. With 
whichever opinion the body of the nation concurs, that must 
prevail. My anxieties on the subject will never carry me beyond 
the use of fair and honorable means, of truth and reason; nor 
have they ever lessened the esteem for moral worth, nor alien- 
ated my affections from a single friend, who did not just with- 
draw himself. (To ]\Irs. John Adams, 1804. F. VIII., 312.) 

Parties. — Men have differed in opinion, and been divided 
into parties by these opinions, from the first origin of societies, 
and in all governments where they have been permitted freely to 
think and to speak. The same political parties which now agi- 
tate the United States have existed through all time. Whether 
the power of the people or that of the tyrant (?) should prevail, 
were questions which kept the States of Greece and Rome in 
eternal convulsions, as they now schismatize every people whose 
minds and mouths are not shut up by the gag of a despot. And, 
in fact, the terms of Whig and Tory belong to natural as well as 
to civil histor}\ They denote the temper and constitution of 
the mind of different individuals. To come to our own country 
and to the time when you and I became first acquainted, we 
will remember the violent parties which agitated the old Con- 
gress, and their bitter contents. There you and I were to- 
gether, and the Jays, and the Dickinsons, and other anti-inde- 
pendents, were arrayed against us. They cherished the 
monarchy of England, and we the rights of our countrymen. 



334 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

When our present government was in the mew, passing from 
Confederation to Union, how bitter was the schism between the 
Feds and the Antis. Here you and I were together again. For, 
although for a moment separated by the Atlantic from the 
scene of action, I favored the opinion that nine States should 
confirm the Constitution, in order to secure it, and the others 
hold off until certain amendment, deemed favorable to freedom 
should be made, I rallied in the first instant to the wiser propo- 
sition of Massachusetts, that all should confirm, and then all 
instruct their delegates to urge those amendments. The 
amendments were made, and all were reconciled to the govern- 
ment. But as soon as it was put into motion, the line of division 
v/as again drawn. We broke into two parties, each wishing to 
give the government a dift^erent direction ; the one to strengthen 
the most popular branch, the other the more permanent 
branches, and to^ extend their permanence. * * 'i< There 
have been differences of opinion and party differences, from the 
first establishment of governments to the present day, and on 
the same question which now divides our own country; that 
these will continue through all future time; that everyone takes 
his side in favor of the many, or of the few, according to his 
constitution, and the circumstances in which he is placed; that 
opinions, which are equally honest on both sides, should not 
effect personal esteem or social intercourse; that as we judge 
between the Claudii and the Gracchi, the Wentworths and the 
Hampdens of past age, so of those among us whose names may 
happen to be remembered for awhile, the next generations will 
judge, favorably or unfavorably, according to the complexion of 
individual minds, and side they shall themselves have taken; 
that nothing new can be added by you or me to what has been 
said by others, and Vv^ill be said in every age in support of the 
conflicting opinions on government; and that wisdom and duty 
dictate an humble resignation to the verdict of our future peers. 
(To John Adams, 1813. C. VI., 143-146.) 

Party. — I am not a Federalist, because I never submitted 
the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of 
men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics, or in any- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 335 

thing- else where I was capable of thinking- for myself. Snch an 
addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If 
I could not g-o to heaven but with a party, I would not go there 
at all. (To Francis Hopkinson, 1789. F. V., y6.) 

Party Loyalty. — As far as my good will may go, for I can 
no longer act, I shall adhere to my government, executive and 
legislative, and, as long as they are RepubHcan, I shall go with 
their measures, whether I think them right or wrong; because 
I know they are honest, and are wiser and better informed than 
I am. In doing this, however, I shall not give up the friendship 
of those who differ from me, and who have equal rights with 
myself to shape their own course. (To William Duane, 181 1. 
CV., 592.) 

Party Spirit. — You and I have formerly seen warm debates 
and high political passions. But gentlemen of different politics 
would then speak tO' each other and separate the business of the 
Senate from that of society. It is not so now. Men who have 
been intimate all their lives cross the streets to avoid meeting 
and turn their heads another way lest they should be obliged 
to touch their hats. This may do for young men with whom 
passion is enjoyment, but it is afflicting to peaceable minds. 
Tranquillity is the old man's milk. I go to enjoy it in a fev,- 
days, and to exchange the roar and tumult of bulls and bears 
for the prattle of my grandchildren and senile rest. (To Edv;ard 
Rutledge, 1797. F. VII., 155.) 

Patents. — Certainly an inventor ought to he allowed a right 
to the benefit of his invention for some certain time. It is 
equally certain it ought not to be perpetual; for to embarrass 
society with monopolies for ever}^ utensil existing, and in all 
the details of life, would be more injurious to them than had 
the supposed inventors never existed; because the natural 
understanding of its members would have suggested the same 
things or others as good. How long the term should be is the 
difficult question. Our legislators have copied the English 
estimate of the term, perhaps without sufficiently considering 
how much longer, in a countr}'' so much more sparsely settled, 
it takes for an invention to become known, and used to an 



33^ THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

extent profitable to the inventor. Nobody wishes more than I 
do that ingenuity should receive a liberal encouragement. (To 
Oliver Evans, 1807. C. V., 75.) 

Patronage. — One thing I will say that as to the future, inter- 
ferences with elections, whether of the State or general govern- 
ment, by officers of the latter, should be denied cause of removal; 
because the constitutional remedy by the elective principle be- 
comes nothing, if it may be smothered by the patronage of the 
general government. (To Thomas McKean, 1801. F. VII., 
486.) 

Patronage. — See Offices. 

Peace. — It should be our endeavor to cultivate the peace and 
friendship of every nation, even of that which has injured us 
most, when we shall have carried our point against her. * * * 
Never was so much false arithmetic employed on any subject, 
as that which has been employed to persuade nations that it is 
their interest to go to war. Were the money which it has cost 
to gain, at the close of a long war, a little town, or a little 
territory, the right to cut wood here, or to catch fish vthere, 
expended in improving what they already possess, in making 
roads, opening rivers, building ports, improving the arts and 
finding employment for their idle poor, it would render them 
much stronger, much wealthier and happier. This I hope will 
be our wisdom. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 
279.) 

Peace. — We love and we value peace; we know its blessings 
from experience. We abhor the follies of war and are not united 
in its distresses and calamities. (To the United States Com- 
missioner at Spain, 1793. F. VI., 338.) 

Peace. — As to myself I love peace, and I am anxious that 
we should give the world still another useful lesson, by showing 
to them other modes of punishing injuries than by war, which is 
as much a punishment to the punisher as tO' the sufferer. I love 
therefore Mr. Clarke's proposition of cutting off all communica- 
tion with the nation which has conducted itself so atrociously. 
This you will say m.ay bring on war. If it does, we will meet 
it like men; but it may not bring on war, and then the experi- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 337 

ment will have been a happy one. (To' Tench Coxe, i794- F. 
VI., 508.) 

Peace. — In the course of this conflict (referring to the 
Napoleonic wars) let it be our endeavor, as it is our interest and 
desire, to cultivate the friendship of the belligerent nations by 
every act of justice and of incessant kindness; to receive their 
armed vessels with hospitality from the distresses of the sea, 
but to administer the means of annoyance to none; to establish 
in our harbors such a police as may maintain law and order; to 
restrain our citizens from embarking individually in a war in 
which their country takes no part; tO' punish severely those 
persons, citizen or alien, who shall usurp the cover of our flag 
for vessels not entitled tO' it, infecting thereby with suspicion 
those of real Americans, and committing us into controversies 
for the redress of wrongs not our own; to exact from every 
nation the observance, toward our vessels and citizens, of those 
principles and practices which all civilized people acknowledge; 
to merit the character of a just nation, and maintain that of an 
independent one, preferring every consequence to insult and 
habitual wrong. * * * Separated, by a wide ocean from 
the nations of Europe, and from the political interests which 
entangle them together, with productions and wants which 
render our commerce and friendship useful to them and theirs 
to us, it cannot be the interest of any to assail us, nor ours 
to disturb them. We should be most unwise, indeed, were we 
to cast away the singular blessings of the position in which 
nature has placed us, the opportunity she has endowed us with 
of pursuing at a distance from foreign contentions, the paths of 
industry, peace and happiness; of cultivating general friendship, 
and of bringing collisions of interest to the umpirage of reason 
rather than of force. How desirable then must it be, in a gov- 
ernment like ours, to see its citizens adopt individually the 
views, the interests, and the conduct which their country should 
pursue, divesting themselves of those passions and partialities 
w^hich tend to lessen useful friendships, and to embarrass and 
embroil us in the calamitous scenes of Europe. (Third Annual 
Message to Congress, 1803. F. VIII., 272.) 



338 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Peace. — Unmeddling with the affairs of other nations, we 
presume not tO' prescribe or censure their course. Happy, could 
we be permitted to pursue our own in peace, and to employ all 
our means in improving the condition of our citizens. Whether 
this will be permitted, is more doubtful now than at any pre- 
ceding time. We have borne patiently a great deal of wrong, 
on the consideration that if nations go to war for every degree 
of injury, there would never be peace on earth. But when 
patience has begotten false estimates of its motives, when 
wrongs are pressed because it is believed they will be borne, 
resistance becomes morality. (To Madame de Stael, 1807. 
C. v., 133.) 

Peace. — We have, therefore, remained in peace, suffering 
frequent injuries, but, on the whole, multiplying, improving, 
prospering beyond all example. It is evident tO' all, that in 
spite of great losses much greater gains have ensued. When 
these gladiators shall have worried each other into ruin or 
reason, instead of lying among the dead on the bloody arena, 
we shall have acquired a growth and strength which will place 
us hors d'insulte. Peace then has been our principle, peace is 
our interest, and peace has saved the world this only plant of 
free and rational government now existing in it. If it can still 
be preserved, we shall soon see the final extinction of our 
national debt, and liberation of our revenues for the defence 
and improvement of our country. * * * However, there- 
fore, we may have been reproached for pursuing our Quaker 
system, time will affix the stamp of wisdom on it, and the 
happiness and prosperity of our citizens will attest its merit. 
And this, I beheve, is the only legitimate object of government, 
and the first duty of governors, and not the slaughter of men 
and devastation of the countries placed under their care, in 
pursuit of a fantastic honor, unallied to virtue or happiness; 
or in gratification of the angry passions, or the pride of adminis- 
trators, excited by personal incidents, in which their citizens 
have no concern. Some merit will be ascribed to the converting 
such times of destruction intO' times of growth and strength for 
us. (To Kosciusko, 181 1. C V., 585.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 339 

Peace. — When peace becomes more losing than war, we may 
prefer the latter on principles of pecuniary calculation. But for 
us to attempt, by war, to reform all Europe, and bring- them 
back to principles of morality and a respect for the equal rights 
of nations, would show us to be only maniacs of another char- 
acter. We should, indeed, have the merit of the good inten- 
tions as well as of the folly of the hero of La Mancha. (To Mr. 
Wirt. C v., 595.) 

Peace Spirit. — No country perhaps was ever so thor- 
oughly against war as ours. These dispositions pervade every 
description of its citizens, whether in or out of office. They 
cannot perhaps suppress their affections or their wishes, but 
they will suppress the effects of them so' as to preserve a fair 
neutrality. Indeed we shall be more useful (to France) than as 
parties by the protection which our flag will give to the supplies 
of provision. In this spirit let all your assurances be given to 
the government with which you reside. (Instructions to the 
United States Minister to France, 1793. F. VI., 217.) 

The People. — I am myself persuaded that the good sense of 
the people will always be found to be the best army. They may 
be led astray for a moment, but will soon correct themselves. 
The people are the only censors of their governors; and even 
their errors will tend to keep these tO' the true principles of their 
institution. To' punish their errors too severely would be to 
suppress the only safeguard to public Hberty. (To Edward 
Carrington, 1787. F. IV., 359.) 

Petitions. — For ourselves, we have exhausted every mode of 
application which our invention could suggest as proper and 
promising. We have decently remonstrated with Parliament; 
they have added new injuries to the old. We have wearied our 
King with applications; he has not deigned to answer us. We 
have appealed tO' the native honor and justice of the British 
nation. Their efforts in our favor have hitherto been ineffectual. 
What then remains to be done? That we commit our injuries 
to the evenhanded justice of the Being who doth nO' wrong, 
earnestly beseeching him to illuminate the counsels, and pros- 
per the endeavors of those to^ whom America hath confided her 



340 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

hopes, that through their wise direction we may again see re- 
united the blessings of hberty, property, and harmony with 
Great Britain. (From an address to Governor Dunmore of 
Virginia, 1775. F. I., 459.) 

Philosophers. — I am satisfied there is an order of geniuses 
above that obHgation (of government) and therefore exempted 
from it; nobody can conceive that nature ever intended to 
throw away a Newton upon the occupation of a crown. It 
would have been a prodigality for which even the conduct of 
Providence might have been arraigned, had he been by birth 
annexed to what was so far below him. Co-operating with 
nature in her ordinary economy we should dispose of and em- 
ploy the geniuses of men according to their several orders and 
degrees. I doubt not there are in your country many persons 
equal to the task of conducting government; but you should 
consider that the world has but one Rittenhouse and that it 
never had one before. (To David Rittenhouse, 1778. F. II., 
163.) 

Plato. — Education is chiefly in the hands of persons who, 
from their profession, have an interest in the reputation and 
dreams of Plato. They give the tone while at school, and few in 
their after years have occasion to revise their college opinions. 
But fashion and authority apart, and bringing Plato to the test 
of reason, take from him his sophisms, futilities and incompre- 
hensibilities, and what remains? In truth, he is one of the race 
of genuine sophists, wdio has escaped the oblivion of his breth- 
ren, first, by the elegance of his diction, but chiefly, by the 
adoption and incorporation of his whimsies into the body of 
artificial Christianity. liis foggy mind is forever presenting 
the semblances of objects which, half seen through a mist, can 
be defined neither in form nor dimensions. Yet this, which 
should have consigned him to early oblivion, really procured 
him immortality of fame and reverence. The Christian priest- 
hood, finding the doctrines of Christ levelled to every under- 
standing, and too plain to need explanation, saw in the mysti- 
cism of Plato materials with which they might build up an 
artificial system, which might, from its indistinctness, admit 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 34I 

everlasting controversy, give employment for their order, and 
introduce it to profit, power and pre-eminence. The doctrines 
which flowed from the lips of Jesus himself are within the com- 
prehension of a child; but thousands of volumes have not yet 
explained the Platonisms engrafted on them; and for this ob- 
vious reason, that nonsense cannot be explained. Their pur- 
poses, however, are answered. Plato is canonized; and it is 
now deemed as impious to question his merits as those of an 
Apostle of Jesus. He is peculiarly appealed to as an advocate 
of the immortality of the soul; and yet I will venture to say, 
that were there no better arguments than his in proof of it, not 
a man in the world would believe it. It is fortunate for us, that 
Platonic Republicanism has not obtained the same favor as 
Platonic Christianity; or we should now have been all living, 
men, women and children, pell mell together, like beasts of the 
field or forest. Yet "Plato is a great philosopher," said La 
Fontaine. But, says Fontenelle, "Do you find his ideas very 
clear?" "Oh no! he is of an obscurity impenetrable." "Do 
you not find him full of contradictions?" "Certainly," replied La 
Fontaine, "he is but a sophist." Yet, immediately after, he 
exclaims again, "Oh, Plato was a great philosopher." Socrates 
had reason, indeed, to complain of the misrepresentations of 
Plato; for in truth, his dialogues are libels on Socrates. (To 
John Adams, 1814. C. VL, 354.) 

Pleasure. — Do not bite at the bait of pleasure until you know 
there is no hook beneath it. The art of life is the art of 
avoiding pain; and he is the best pilot who steers clearest of the 
rocks and shoals with which he is beset. Pleasure is always 
before us; but misfortune is at our side; while running after 
that, this arrests us. The most effectual means of being secure 
against pain is to retire v.ithin ourselves, and to suffice with our 
own happiness. These, which depend on ourselves, are the 
only pleasures a wise man will count on; for nothing is ours 
which another may deprive us of. (To Mrs. Maria Cosway, 
written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 318.) 

Pleasures of the Intellect. — Hence, the inestimable value 
of intellectual pleasures. Ever in our power, always leading us to 



342 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

something new, never cloying we ride serene and sublime above 
the concerns of this mortal world, contemplating truth and 
nature, matter and motion, the laws which bind up their exist- 
ence and that Eternal Being who made and bound them up by 
these laws. (To Mrs. Maria Cosway, written in Paris, 1786. 
F. IV., 318.) 

Pleasures. — We are not immortal ourselves, my friend, how 
can we expect our enjoyments to be so? We have no rose 
without its thorn, no pleasure without alloy. It is the law of our 
existence and we must acquiesce. It is the condition annexed 
to all our pleasures, not by us who receive, but by Him who 
gives them. True, this condition is pressing cruelly upon me at 
this moment. I feel more fit for death than life. But when I 
look back upon the pleasures of which it is the consequence, I 
am conscious they were worth the price I am paying. (To Mrs. 
Maria Cosway, written from Paris, 1786. F. IV., 321.) 

Poetry. — To my own mortification of all living men, I am 
the last who should undertake to decide as to the merits of 
poetry. In early life I was fond of it and easily pleased. But 
as age and cares advanced the powers of fancy have declined. 
Every year seems to have plucked a feather from her wings till 
she can no longer waft one to those sublime heights to which 
it is necessary to accompany the poet. (To John Burke, 1801. 
F. VIII., 66.) 

Politeness, — I have mentioned good humor as one of the 
preservatives of our peace and tranquillity. It is among the 
most elTectual, and its effect is so well imitated and aided, arti- 
ficially, by politeness, that this also becomes an acquisition of 
first rate value. In truth, politeness is artificial good humor, 
it covers the natural want of it, and ends by rendering habitual 
a substitute nearly equivalent to the real virtue. It is the 
practice of sacrificing to those whom we meet in society, all 
the little conveniences and preferences which will gratify them, 
and deprive us of nothing worth a moment's consideration; it 
is the giving a pleasure and flattering turn to our expressions, 
which will conciliate others, and make them pleased with us 
as well as themselves. How cheap a price for the good will of 



Or THOMAS JEFFERSON 343 

another! When this is in return for a rude thing said by another, 
it brings him to his senses, it mortifies and corrects him in the 
most salutary way, and places him at the feet of your good 
nature, in the eves of the company. (To T. J. Randolph, 1808. 
C. v., 389.) 

The Poor Visited. — To do it most effectually, you must be 
absolutely incognito, you must ferret the people out of their 
hovels as I have done, look into their kettles, eat their bread, 
loll on their beds under pretense of resting yourself, but in fact 
to find if they are soft. You will feel a subHme pleasure in the 
course of this investigation, and a sublimer one hereafter, when 
you shall be able to apply your knowledge to the softening of 
their beds, or the throwing a morsel of meat into their kettle of 
vegetables. (To' La Fayette, 1787. C, II., 136.) 

Povv^ER. — An honest man can feel no pleasure in the exercise 
of pow'er over his fellow citizens. And considering as the only 
ciSces of power those conferred by the people directly, that is to 
say, the executive and legislative functions of the general and 
the State governments, the common refusal of these, and multi- 
plied resignations, are proofs sufficient that power is not allur- 
ing to pure minds, and is not, with them, the primary principle 
of contest. This is my belief of it; it is that on which I have 
acted; and had it been a mere contest who should be permitted 
to administer the government according to its genuine Repub- 
lican principles, there has never been a mioment of my life in 
which I should have relinquished for it the enjoyment of my 
familv, mv poems, my friends and books. (To ?\lr. Melish, 
1813.' C.'VI., 96.) 

Power. — I wish that all nations may recover and retain their 
independence; that those which are overgrov/n may not advance 
beyond safe measures of pov/cr, that a salutary balance may be 
ever maintained among nations, and that our peace, commerce, 
and friendship may be sought and cultivated by all. It is our 
business to manufacture for ourselves whatever we can, to keep 
our markets open for what we can spare or want; and the less 
we have to do with the amities and enmities of Europe, the 
better. Not in our day, but in no distant one, we may shake a 



344 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

rod over the heads of all, which may make the stoutest of them 
tremble. But I hope our wisdom will grow with our power, 
and teach us, that the less we use our power, the greater it will 
be. (To Mr. Leiper, 1815. C. VI., 464.) 

Presbyterians. — Prcsb3^terian spirit is known to be so con- 
genial with friendly liberty, that the patriots after the restora- 
tion, finding that the humor of the people was running too 
strongly to exalt the prerogative of the crown, promoted the 
dissenting interest as a check and balance, and thus was pro- 
duced the Toleration Act. (From notes on Religion, 1776. 
F. IL, 98.) 

Presbyterians. — The Presbyterian clergy are the most intol- 
erant of all sects, the most tyrannical and ambitious; ready at 
the word of the lawgiver, if such a word could now be obtained, 
to put the torch to the pile, and tO' rekindle in the virgin hemi- 
sphere the flames in which their oracle Calvin consumed the poor 
Servetus, because he could not find in his Euclid the proposition 
which has demonstrated that three are one and one is three, 
nor subscribe to that Calvin, that magistrates have a right to 
exterminate all heretics to Calvinistic creed. They pant to re- 
establish, by law, that holy inquisition, which they can now only 
infuse into public opinion. (To William Short, 1820. C. VII., 

I57-) 

Presbyterianism. — I had no idea that in Pennsylvania, the 
cradle of toleration and freedom of religion, it could have arisen 
to the height you describe. This must be owing to the growth 
of Presbyterians. The blasphemy and absurdity of the five 
points ol Calvin, and the impossibility of defending them, ren- 
der their advocates impatient of reasoning, irritable and prone 
to denunciation. * * * Systematical in grasping at an 
ascendency over all other sects, Presbyterians aim, like the 
Jesuits, at engrossing the education of the country, are hostile 
to every institution which they do not direct, and jealous at 
seeing others begin to attend at all to that object. (To Dr. 
Cooper, 1822. C. VII., 266.) 

The Presidency. — I own I like what Luther Martin tells us 
was repeatedly voted and adhered to by the Federal conven- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 345 

tion, and only altered about twelve days before their rising 
when some members had gone off, to wit, that he (the Presi- 
dent) should be elected for seven years and incapable for ever 
after. (To William Short, written from Paris, 1788. F. V., 49.) 

The Presidency. — The first wish of my heart was that you 
should have been proposed for the administration of the gov- 
ernment. On your declining it, I wish anybody other than 
myself: and there is nothing I so anxiously hope, as that my 
name may come out either second or third. These would be 
indifferent to me; as the last would leave me at home the whole 
year, and the other two-thirds of it. (To James Madison, 1793. 
F. VII., 91.) 

The Presidency. — You have seen my name lately tacked so 
much tO' eulogy and abuse that I dare say you hardly thought 
it meant your old acquaintance of '76. In truth, I did not know 
myself under the pens either of my friends or foes. It is unfor- 
tunate for our peace that unmerited abuse wounds while 
unmerited praise has not the power to heal. These are hard 
wages for the serv^ices of all the activity and healthy years of 
one's life. I had retired after five and twenty years of constant 
occupation in public affairs and total abandonment of my own. 
I retired much poorer than when I entered the public service, 
and desired nothing but rest and oblivion. My name, however, 
was again brought forward without consent or expectation on 
my part (on my salvation I declare it). * * * q^ prin- 
ciples of public respect I should not have refused; but I protest 
before my God that I shall from the bottom of my heart rejoice 
at escaping. * * * I h-ve no ambition to govern men; 
no passion which would lead me to delight to ride in a storm. 
Flirniina amo sylvasquc inglorius. (To Edward Rutledge, 1796. 
F. VII., 93.) 

Presidency. — My opinion originally was that the President 
of the United States should have been elected for seven years, 
and forever ineligible aftenvards. I have since become sensible 
that seven years is too long to be irremovable, and that there 
should be a peaceable way of withdrawing a man in midway 
who is doing wrong. The service for eight years with a power 



1/ 



346 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to remove at the end of the first four, comes nearly to my 
principle as corrected by experience. And it is in adherence 
to that that I am determined to withdraw at the end of my 
second term. The danger is that the indulgence and attach- 
ments of the people will keep a man in the chair after he be- 
comes a dotard, that re-election through life shall become 
habitual, and election for life follow that. General Washington 
set the example of voluntary retirement after eight years. I 
shall follow it, and a few more precedents will oppose the 
obstacle of habit to anyone after a while who shall endeavor 
to extend his term. Perhaps it may beget a disposition to 
establish it by an amendment of the Constitution. I believe 
I am doing right, therefore, in pursuing my principle. I had 
determined to declare my intention, but I have consented to be 
silent on the opinion of friends, who think it best not to put a 
continuance out of my power in defiance of all circumstances. 
There is, however, but one circumstance which could engage 
my acquiescence in another election, to wit, such a division 
about a successor as might bring in a Monarchist. But this 
circumstance is impossible. While, therefore, I shall make no 
formal declarations to the public of my purpose, I have freely 
let it be understood in private conversation. In this I am 
persuaded yourself and my friends generally will approve of my 
views; and should I at the end of a second term carry into 
retirement all the favor which the first has acquired, I shall feel 
the consolation of having done all the good in my power, and 
expect with more than composure the termination of a life no 
longer valuable to others or of importance to myself. (To 
John Taylor, 1805. F. VIII., 339.) 

Presidential Tours. — I confess that I am not reconciled to 
the idea of a, chief magistrate parading himself through the 
several States, as an object of public gaze, and in quest of an 
applause which, to be valuable, should be purely voluntary. 
I had rather acquire silent good will by a faithful discharge of 
my duties, than owe expressions of it to my putting myself in 
the way of receiving them. Were I to make such a tour to 
Portsmouth or Portland, I must do it to Savannah, perhaps 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 347 

to Orleans and Frankfort. As I have never yet seen the time 
when the public business would have permitted me to be so 
long in a situation in which I could carry it on, so I have no 
reason to expect that such a time will come while I remain in 
office. A journey to Boston or Portsmouth, after I shall be a 
private citizen, would much better harmonize with my feelings, 
as well as duties; and, founded in curiosity, would give no 
claims to an extension of it. I should see my friends, too, more 
at our mutual ease, and be left more exclusively to their society. 
(To Governor Sullivan, 1807. C. V., 102.) 

The Press. — No Government ought to be without censors; 
and when the press is free, no one ever will. Nature has given 
to man no other means of sifting out the truth either in religion, 
law or politics. I think it as honorable to the government 
neither to know nor notice its sycophants or censors as it would 
be undignified and criminal to pamper the former and persecute 
the latter. (To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 108.) 

Priestly, Joseph. — Yours is one of the few lives precious 
to mankind, and for the continuance of which every thinking 
man is solicitous. Bigots may be an exception. * * * 
Those who live by mystery and charlatanerie fearing you would 
render them useless by simplifying the Christian philosophy — 
the most sublime and benevolent but most perverted system 
that ever shone on man — endeavored to crush your well-earnt 
and well-deserved fame. But it was the Liliputians upon Gul- 
liver. Our countrymen have recovered from the alarm into 
which art and industry had thrown them; science and honesty 
are replaced on their high ground; and you, my dear sir, as 
their great apostle, are on its pinnacle. (To Joseph Priestly, 
1801. F. VIII., 21.) 

Prince of Wales (Afterward George IV.). — As the charac- 
ter of the Prince of Wales is becoming interesting I have endeav- 
ored to learn w^hat it truly is. * * * He has not a single 
element of mathematics or moral philosophy, or any other 
science on earth, nor has the society he has left been such as to 
supply the void of education. It has been that of the lowest, 
the most illiterate and profligate persons of the kingdom, with- 



348 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

out choice of rank or mind, and with whom the subjects of 
conversation are only horses, drinking-matches, bawdy-houses, 
and in terms most vulgar. In fact, he never associated with a 
man of sense. He has not a single idea of justice, morality, 
religion, or of the rights of men or any anxiety for the opinion 
of the world. He carries that indifference for fame so far, that 
he probably would not be hurt if he was to lose his throne, 
provided he could be assured of having always meat, horses 
and women. (To John Jay, written in Paris, 1789. F. V., 62.) 
Profession of Political Faith. — I do with sincere zeal wish 
an inviolable preservation of our present Federal Constitution, 
according to the true sense in which it was adopted by the 
States, that in which it was advocated by its friends, and not that 
which its enemies apprehended, who therefore became its ene- 
mies; and I am opposed to the monarchising its features by 
the forms of its administration with a view to conciliate a first 
transition to a President and Senate for life, and from that to a 
hereditary tenure of these offices and thus to worm out the 
elective principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers 
not yielded by them to the Union, and to the Legislature of 
the Union its constitutional share in the division of the powers; 
and I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to 
the general government, and all those of that government to 
the executive branch. I am for a government rigorously 
frugal and simple, applying all the possible savings of the pubHc 
revenue to the discharge of the national debt, and not for a 
multiplication of officers and salaries merely to make partisans 
and for increasing by every device the public debt on the prin- 
ciple of its being a public blessing. I am for relying, for internal 
defense, on our militia solely, till actual invasion, and for such 
a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors from 
such depredations as we have experienced; and not for a stand- 
ing army in time of peace, which m^ay overawe the public sen- 
timent; nor for a navy which by its own expenses and the 
external wars in w^hich it will implicate us, will grind us with 
public burthens and sink us under them. I am for free com- 
merce with all nations; political connection with none; and 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 349 

little or no diplomatic establishment. And I am not for linking 
ourselves by new treaties with the generals of Europe; entering 
that field of slaughter to preserve their balance, or joining in 
the confederacy of kings to war against the principles of liberty. 
I am for freedom of religion and against all manoeuvres to bring 
about a legal ascendency of one sect over another; for freedom 
of the press and against all violations of the Constitution to 
silence by force and not by reason the complaints or criticisms 
just or unjust of our citizens against the conduct of their agents. 
And I am for encouraging the progress of science in all its 
branches; and not for raising a hue and cry against the sacred 
name of philosophy; for awing the human mind by stories of 
raw-head and bloody bones to a distrust of its own vision and to 
rely implicitly on that of others; to go backward instead of 
forward to look for improvement; to believe that government, 
religion, morality, and every other science were in the highest 
perfection in ages of the darkest ignorance and that nothing 
can ever be devised more perfect than what was established by 
our forefathers. To these I will add that I was a sincere well- 
wisher to the success of the French Revolution, and still wish 
it may end in the establishment of a free and well-ordered 
republic; but I have not been insensible to the atrocious depre- 
dations they have committed on our commerce. The first 
object of my heart is my own country'. In that is embarked my 
family, my fortune, and my own existence. I have not one 
farthing of interest nor one fibre of attachment out of it, nor a 
single motive of preference of any one nation to another but in 
proportion as they are more or less friendly to us. (To Elbridge 
Gerry, 1799. F. VII., 327-329-) 

Progress. — The Gothic idea that we are to look backwards 
instead of forwards for the improvement of the human mind, 
and to recur to the annals of our ancestors for what is not 
perfect in government, in religion and in learning is worthy of 
those bigots in religion and government by whom it has been 
recommended and whose purposes it would answer. But it is not 
an idea which this country will endure. (To Joseph Priestly, 
1800. F. VII., 416.) 



350 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Protection. — The Government of the United States, at a very 
early period, when establishing its tariff on foreign importations, 
were very much guided in their selection of objects by a desire 

to encourage manufactures within ourselves. (To , 

1821. C. VII., 220.) 

Protection. — I do not mean to say that it may not be for 
the general interest to foster for a while certain infant manu- 
factures until they are strong enough to stand against foreign 
rivals; but when evident that they will never be so, it is against 
right, to make the other branches of industry support them. 
(To Samuel Smith, 1823. C. VII., 285.) 

Public Opinion. — I cannot decide between Andrew Alex- 
ander, John Alexander, and John Camphers, recommended by 
different persons for the marshal's office. Pray write me your 
opinion which appointment would be most respected by the 
public, for that circumstance is not only generally the best 
criterion of w-hat is best, but the public respect can alone give 
strength to the government. (To Archibald Stuart, 1801. F. 
VIII., 47-) 

Public Opinion. — It will always be interesting to me to know 
the impression made by any particular thing on the public mind. 
My idea is that when two measures are equally right, it is a 
duty of the people to adopt that one which is m.ost agreeable 
to them; and where a measure not agreeable to them has been 
adopted, it is desirable to know it, because it is an admonition to 
a review of that measure to see if it has been really right, and 
to correct it if mistaken. It is rare that the public sentiment 
decides universally or unwisely, and the individual who differs 
from it ought to distrust and examine well his own opinion. 
(To William Findley, 1801. F. VIII.. 27.) 

Public Service. — It is not for an individual to choose his 
post. You are to marshal us as may be best for the public 
good ; and it is only in the case of its being indifferent to you, 
that I would avail myself of the opinion you have so kindly 
offered me in your letter. If you think it better to transfer me to 
another post, my inclination must be no obstacle; nor shall 
it be if there is any desire to suppress the office I now hold or to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 351 

reduce its grade. In either of these cases, be so good as only 
to signify to me your ultimate wish, and I will conform to it 
accordingly. If it should be to remain in New York, my chief 
comfort will be to work under your eye, my only shelter the 
authority of your name, and the wisdom of measures to be 
dictated by you and implicitly executed by me. (To Wash- 
ington, in reply to an offer of the ofifice of Secretary of State, 
1789. F. v., 141.) 

Public Service. — The happiest moments of my life have been 
the few which I have passed at home in the bosom of my family. 
Employment anywhere else is a mere (?) of time; it is burning 
the candle of life in perfect waste for the individual himself. 
I have no complaint against anybody. I have had more of the 
confidence of my country than my share. I only say that public 
employment contributes neither to advantage or happiness. It 
is but honorable exile from one's family and affairs. (To 
Francis Willis, 1790. F. V., 157.) 

The Pulpit. — Whenever preachers, instead of a lesson in 
religion, put them off with a discourse on the Copernican 
system, on chemical affinities, on the construction of govern- 
ment, or the characters or conduct of those administering it, 
it is a breach of contract, depriving their audience of the kind 
of service for which they are salaried, and giving them, instead 
of it, what they did not want, or if wanted, would rather seek 
from better sources in that particular art or science. In choos- 
ing our pastor we look to his religious qualifications, without 
inquiring into his physical or political dogmas, with which we 
mean to have nothing to do. I am aware that arguments may 
be found which may twist a thread of politics into the cord of 
religious duties. So may they for every other branch of human 
art or science. Thus, for example, it is a religious duty to 
obey the laws of our countn.^; the teacher of religion, there- 
fore, must instruct us in those laws, that we may know how to 
obey them. It is a religious duty to assist our sick neighbors; 
the preacher must, therefore, teach us medicine, that we may 
do it understandingly. It is a religious duty to preserve our 
own health; our religious teacher, then, must tell us what dishes 



352 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

are wholesome, and give us recipes in cookery, that we may 
learn how to prepare them. And so, ingenuity, by generahzing 
more and more, may amalgamate all the branches of science 
into any one of them, and the physician who is paid to visit 
the sick, may give a sermon instead of medicine, and the mer- 
chant to whom money is sent for a hat, may send a handkerchief 
instead of it. But notwithstanding this possible confusion of all 
sciences into one, common sense draws lines between them suf- 
ficiently distinct for the general purposes of life, and no one 
is at a loss to understand that a recipe in medicine or cookery, 
or a demonstration in geometry, is not a lesson in religion. I 
do not deny that a congregation may, if they please, agree with 
their preacher that he shall instruct them in medicine also, or 
law, or politics. Then lectures in these, from the pulpit, become 
not only a matter of right, but of duty also. But this must be 
with the consent of every individual; because the association 
being voluntary, the mere majority has no right to apply the 
contributions of the minority to purposes unspecified in the 
agreement of the congregation. (To Mr. Wendover, 1815. 

C. VI., 445-) 

Punishment. — Any officer or soldier, guilty of mutiny, de- 
sertion, disobedience of command, absence from duty or quar- 
ters, neglect of guard, or cowardice, shall be punished at the 
discretion of a court-martial by degrading, cashiering, drum- 
ming out of the army, whipping not exceeding 20 lashes, fine 
not exceeding two months, or imprisonment not exceeding one 
month. (From the draft of a bill providing against invasions, 
1777. F. II., 127.) 

Punishments. — It frequently happens that wicked and disso- 
lute men, resigning themselves to the dominion of inordinate 
passions, commit violations on the lives, liberties, and property 
of others, and the secure enjoyments of these having principally 
induced men to enter into society, government would be defec- 
tive in its principal purpose were it not to restrain such criminal 
acts by inflicting due punishments on those who perpetrate 
them. (From a bill relating to crimes and punishments, 1779. 
F. II., 204.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 353 

Quakers. — You observe very truly, that both the late and 
present administration co^nducted the government on principles 
professed by the Friends. Our efforts to preserve peace, our 
measures as to the Indians, as to slavery, as to religious freedom, 
were all in consonance with their profession. Yet I never ex- 
pected v^e should get a vote from them, and in this I was neither 
deceived nor disappointed. There is no riddle in this to those 
who do not suffer themselves to be duped by the professions of 
religious sectaries. The theory of American Quakerism is a 
very obvious one. The mother society is in England. Its 
members are English by birth and residence, devoted to their 
own country as good citizens ought to be. The Quakers of 
these States are colonies or filiations from the mother society, to 
whom that society sends its yearly lessons. On these, the 
filiated societies model their opinions, their conduct, their pas- 
sions and attachments. A Quaker is essentially an Englishman, 
in whatever part of the earth he is bom or lives. The outrages 
of Great Britain on our navigation and commerce, have kept us 
in perpetual bickerings with her. The Quakers here have taken 
sides against their own government, not on their profession 
of peace, for they saw that peace was our object also; but from 
devotion to the views of the mother society. In 1797-8, when 
an administration sought war with France, the Quakers were 
the most clamoro'us for war. Their principle of peace, as a 
secondary one, yielded to the prirhary one of adherence to the 
Friends in England, and what was patriotism in the original, 
became treason in the copy. On that occasion, they obliged 
their good old leader, Mr. Pemberton, to erase his name from 
a petition to Congress against war, which had been delivered 
to a Representative of Pennsylvania, a member of the late and 
present administration; he accordingly permitted the old gentle- 
man to erase his name. You must not therefore expect that 
your book will have any more effect on the Society of Friends 
here, than on the English merchants settled among us. I apply 
this to the Friends in general, not universally. I know individ- 
uals among them as good patriots as we have. (To Samuel 
Kercheval, 1810. C. V., 492.) 



354 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Quakers, — Delaware is essentially a Quaker State, the frag- 
ment of a religious sect which, there, in the other States, in 
England, are a homogeneous mass, acting with one mind, and 
that directed by the mother society in England. Dispersed, as 
the Jews, they still form, as those do, one nation, foreign to the 
land they live in. They are Protestant Jesuits, implicitly de- 
voted to the will of their superiors, and forgetting all duties to 
their country in the execution of the policy of their order. 
When war is proposed in England they have religious scruples; 
but when with France, these are laid by, and they become 
clamorous for it. They are, however, silent, passive and give 
no other trouble than of whipping them along. (To Marquis 
de LaFayette, 1817. C. VII., 66.) 

Quartering Troops. — His majesty has no right to land a 
single armed man on our shores, and these whom he sends here 
are liable to our laws made for the suppression and punishment 
of riots and unlawful assemblies; or are hostile bodies, invading 
us in defiance of law. He possesses, indeed, the executive 
power of the laws in every State, but they are the laws of the 
particular State which he is to administer within that State, and 
not those of any one within the limits of another. Every State 
must judge for itself the number of armed men which they may 
safely trust among them, of whom they are to consist, and 
under what restrictions they shall be laid. (From "A Summary 
View," 1774. F. I., 445.) 

Rebellion. — The spirit of resistance to government is so 
valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it always to be kept 
alive. It will often be exercised when wrong, but better so 
than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and 
then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere. (To Mrs. John 
Adams, written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 370.) 

Rebellion. — We have had thirteen independent States eleven 
years. There has been one rebellion. That comes to one 
rebellion in a century and a half for each State. What country 
before ever existed a century and a half without a rebellion? 
And what country can preserve its liberties if their rulers are 
not warned from time to time that their people preserve the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 355 

Spirit of resistance? Let these take arms. Tlie remedy is to 
set them right as to facts, pardon and pacify them. What 
signify a few hves lost in a century or two? The tree of Hberty 
must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots 
and tyrants. It is its natural manure. (To Stephens Smith, 
written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 467.) 

Reciprocity in Trade. — I should say then to every nation 
on earth by treaty: Your people shall trade freely with us and 
ours with you, paying no more than the most favored nation, 
in order to put an end to the right of individual States acting 
by fits and starts to interrupt our commerce or to embroil us 
with any nation. * * * jf ^\^q nations of Europe from 
their actual establishments are not at liberty to say to America 
that she shall trade in their ports duty free, they may say she 
may trade there paying no higher duties than the most favored 
nation. And this is valuable in many of those countries where a 
great difiference is made between the different nations. (To 
James Monroe, written from Paris, 1785. F. IV., 56.) 

Reciprocity. — Some nations not yet ripe for free commerce 
in all its extent might still be willing to mollify its restrictions 
and regulations for us in proportion to the advantages which an 
intercourse with us might offer. Particularly they may concur 
with us in reciprocating the duties to be levied on each side, or 
in compensating any excess of duty by equivalent advantages 
of another nature. Our commerce is certainly of a character 
to entitle it to favor in most countries. The commodities we 
offer are either necessaries of life, or materials for manufacture, 
or convenient subjects of revenue; and we take in exchange, 
either manufactures when they have received the last finish of 
art and industry or mere luxuries. Such customers may reason- 
ably expect welcome and friendly treatment at every market. 

But should any nation contrary to our wishes suppose it may 
better find its advantages by continuing its system of prohibi- 
tions, duties and regulations it l>ehooves us to protect our citi- 
zens, their commerce and navigation, by counter prohibitions, 
duties and regulations also. Free commerce and regulation 
are not to be given in exchang-e for restrictions and vexations; 



356 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

nor are they likely to produce a relaxation of them. (From a 
report on the Commerce of the United States, 1793. F. VI., 
480.) 

Reciprocity. — The interests of a nation, when well under- 
stood, will be found to coincide with their moral duties. Having 
those, it is an important one to- cultivate peace and friendship 
with our neighbors. To do this we should make provision for 
rendering the justice we must sometimes require from them. I 
recommend, therefore, for your consideration whether the laws 
of the Union should not be extended to restrain our citizens 
from committing acts of violence within the territories of other 
nations which should be punished were they committed within 
our own. (Paragraph of President's Message, 1792. F. VI., 
120.) 

Reconciliation. — Had Parliament been disposed sincerely, as 
we are, to bring about a reconciliation, reasonable men had 
hoped, that by meeting us on this ground, something might 
have been done. Lord Chatham's Bill, on the one part, and 
the terms of Congress on the other, would have found a basis 
for negotiation, which a spirit of accommodation on both sides 
might, perhaps, have reconciled. With a change of Ministers, 
however, a total change of measures took place. The compo- 
nent parts of the Empire have, from that moment, been falling 
asunder, and a total annihilation of its weight in the political 
scale of the world, seems justly to be apprehended. (From 
address to Governor Dunmore, of Virginia, 1775. F. I., 458.) 

Reconciliation. — We call for and confide in the good offices 
of our fellow subjects beyond the Atlantic. Of their friendly 
dispositions we do not cease to hope. And we devoutly implore 
assistance of Almighty God to conduct us happily through this 
great conflict to dispose His Majesty, his ministers, and Parlia- 
ment to reconciliation with us on reasonable terms, and to 
deliver us from the evils of a civil war. (From a declaration 
submitted to Congress giving reasons why Americans had 
taken up arms, 1775. F. I., 476.) 

Re-election. — I sincerely regret that the unbounded calum- 
nies of the Federal party have obliged me to throw myself on 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 357 

the verdict of my country for trial, my great desire having been 
to retire, at the end of the present term, to a life of tranquillity; 
and it was my decided purpose when I entered into office. They 
force my continuance. If we can keep the vessel of State as 
steadily in her course another four years, my earthly purposes 
will be accomplished, and I shall be free to enjoy, as you are 
doing, my family, my farm and my books. (To Elbridge Gerry, 
1804. F. VIII., 297.) 

Religion, — Compulsion in religion is distinguished peculiarly 
from compulsion in every other thing. I may grow rich by an 
art I am compelled to follow, I may recover health by medicines 
I am compelled to take against my own judgment, but I cannot 
be saved by a worship I disbelieve and abhor. (From Notes on 
Religion, 1776. F. II., 102.) 

Religion. — I cannot give up my guidance to the magistrate, 
because he knows no more of the way to heaven than I do, 
and is less concerned to direct me right than I am to go right. 
* * * The magistrate has no power but what the people 
gave. Tlie people have not given him the care of souls because 
they could not; they could not because no man has the right 
to abandon the care of his salvation to another. No man has 
power to let another prescribe his faith. No man can conform 
his faith to the dictates of another. The life and essence of 
religion consists in the internal persuasion or belief of the 
mind. (From Notes on Religion, 1776. F. II., loi.) 

Religion. — If I be marching on wath my utmost vigor in 
that way which according to sacred geography leads to Jerusa- 
lem straight, why am I beaten and ill used by others because my 
hair is not of the right cut; because I have not been dressed 
right; because I eat flesh on the road; because I avoid certain 
by-ways which seem to lead into briars; because I avoid travelers 
less grave and keep company with others who are more sour 
and austere? Yet these are the frivolous things which keep 
Christians at war. (From Notes on Religion, 1776, F. II., 
100.) 

Religion. — Suppose the State should take into head that 
there should be an uniformitv of countenance. INIen would be 



358 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

obliged to put an artificial bump or swelling' here, a latch there, 
etc., but this would be merely hypocritical; or if the alternative 
was given of wearing a mask, ninety-nine one-hundredths must 
immediately mask. Would this add to the beauty of nature? 
Why otherwise in opinions? In the middle ages of Christianity 
opposition to the State opinions was hushed. The conse- 
quence was Christianity became loaded with all the Romish 
follies. Nothing but free argument, raillery, and even ridicule 
will preserve the purity of religion. (From Notes on Religion, 
1776, F. II., 95.) 

Religion. — All persons shall have full and free liberty of re- 
ligious opinion ; nor shall any be compelled to frequent or main- 
tain any religious institution. (From proposed Constitution 
for Virginia, 1776. F. IL, 27.) 

Religion. — The advantages accruing tO' mankind from our 
Savior's mission are these: First, the knowledge of one God 
only; second, a clear knowledge of their duty, or system of 
morality, delivered on such authority as to give sanction; third, 
the outward forms of religion wanted to be purged of that 
farcical pomp and nonsense with which they were loaded; 
fourth, an inducement to a pious life, by revealing clearly a 
future existence and that it was to be the reward of the virtuous. 
(From Notes on Religion, 1776. F. II., 94.) 

Religion. — The opinions and belief of men depend not on 
their own will, but follow involuntarily the evidence proposed 
to their minds. Almighty God hath created the mind free and 
manifested his supreme will that free it shall remain by making 
it altogether insusceptible of restraint; all attempts to influence 
it by temporal punishments, or burthens, or by civil incapacita- 
tions, tend only to beget habits of hypocrisy and meanness, and 
are a departure from the plan of the holy author of our religion. 
(From a Bill for establishing religious freedom, 1779. F. II., 

238.) 

Religion. — To compel a man to furnish contributions of 

money for the propagations of opinions which he disbelieves and 

abhors, is sinful and tyrannical; the forcing him to support this 

or that teacher of his own religious persuasion, is depriving 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 359 

him of the comfortable Hberty of giving his contributions to 
the particular pastor whose morals he would make his pattern, 
and whose power he feels most persuasive to righteousness; and 
is withdrawing from the ministry those temporary rewards, 
which proceeding from an approbation of their personal con- 
duct, are an additional incentive to earnest and unremitting 
labours for the instruction of mankind. (From a Bill for estab- 
lishing religious freedom, 1779. F. 11. , 238.) 

Religion. — The rights of conscience we never submitted (to 
the rulers) we could not submit. We are answerable to them 
to our God. The legitimate powers of government extend 
to such acts only as are injurious to others. But it does me no 
injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no god. 
It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg. If it be said 
his testimony in a court of justice cannot be rehed on, reject it 
then, and be the stigma on him. Constraint may make him 
worse by making him a hypocrite, but it will never make him 
a truer man. It may fix him obstinately in his errors, but it 
will not cure them. Reason and free inquiry are the only 
effectual agents against error. They are the natural enemies 
of error, and error only. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. 
F. III., 264.) 

Religion. — You will next read the new testament. It is the 
history of a personage called Jesus. Keep in your eye the 
opposite pretensions. First, of those who say he was begotten 
by God, born of a virgin, suspended and reversed the laws 
of nature at will, and ascended bodily into heaven; and second, 
of those who say he was a man of illegitimate birth, of a benevo- 
lent heart, enthusiastic mind, who set out without pretensions to 
divinity, ended in believing them, and was punished capitally 
for sedition. * * * Dq not be frightened from this inquiry 
by any fear of its consequences. If it ends in a belief that 
there is no god, you will find incitements to virtue in the 
comfort and pleasantries you feel in its exercise, and the love 
of others which it will procure you. If you find reason to 
believe there is a God, a consciousness that you are acting under 
his eye and that he approves you, will be vast additional incite- 



360 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ment; if that there is a future state, the hope of a happy exis- 
tence in that increases the appetite to deserve it; if that Jesus 
was also a God, you will be comforted by a belief of his aid 
and love. In fine, I repeat, you must lay aside all prejudice on 
both sides, and neither believe nor reject anything because any 
other persons or description of persons have rejected it or 
believed it. Your own reason is the only oracle given you by 
heaven, and you are answerable not for the rightness but for 
the uprightness of the decision. (To Peter Carr, Jefferson's 
nephew, 1787. F. IV., 432.) 

Religion. — Religion, your reason is now mature enough to 
examine this object. In the first place, divest yourself of all 
bias in favor of novelty and singularity of purpose. Indulge 
them in any other subject than that of religion. It is too 
important, and the consequences of error may be too serious. 
On the other hand, shake of¥ all the fears and servile prejudices 
under which weak minds are servilely crouched. Fix reason 
firmly in her seat, and call to her tribunal every fact, every 
opinion. Question with boldness even the existence of a God; 
because, if there be one. He must more approve of the homage 
of reason, than that of blindfolded fear. You will naturally 
examine first the religion of your own country. Read the 
Bible then as you would Livy and Tacitus. The facts which 
are in the ordinary course of nature you will believe on the 
authority of the writer, as you do those of the same kind in 
Livy and Tacitus. The testimony of the writer weighed in 
their favor in one scale, and their not being against the laws 
of nature does not weigh against them. But these facts in 
the Bible which contradict the laws of nature, must be ex- 
amined with more care, and under a variety of faces. Here 
you must recur to the pretensions of the writer to imper- 
sonation from God. Examine upon what evidence his preten- 
sions are founded, and whether that evidence is so strong as 
that its falsehood would be more improbable than a change 
in the laws of nature in the case he relates. (To Peter Carr, 
Jefferson's nephew, 1787. F. IV., 430.) 

Religion. — I consider the government of the United States 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 361 

as interdicted by the Constitution from intermeddling with re- 
ligious institutions, their doctrines, discipline, or exercises. 
This results not only from the provision that no law shall be 
made respecting the establishment or free exercise of religion, 
but from that also which reserves to the States the powers 
not delegated to the United States. Certainly, no power to 
prescribe any religious discipline, has been delegated to the 
general government. It must then rest w-ith the States, as 
far as it can be in any human authority. But it is only pro- 
posed that I should recommend, not prescribe a day of fasting 
and prayer. That is, that I should indirectly assume to the 
United States an authority over religious exercises, which the 
Constitution has directly precluded them from. It must be 
meant, too, that this recommendation is to carry some au- 
thority, and to be sanctioned by some penalty on those who 
disregard it; not indeed of fines and imprisonment, but of some 
degree of proscription, perhaps in public opinion. And does 
the change in the nature of the penalty make the recommenda- 
tion less a law of conduct for those to whom it is directed? I 
do not believe it is for the interest of religion to invite the 
civil magistrate to direct its exercises, its disciplines or its doc- 
trines; nor of the religious societies; that the general govern- 
ment should be invested with the power of effecting any 
uniformity of time or matter among them. Fasting and prayer 
are religious exercises; the enjoining them an act of discipline. 
Every religious society has a right to determine for itself the 
times for these exercises, and the objects proper for them, 
according to their own particular tenets; and the right can 
never be safer than in their own hands, where the Constitution 
has placed it. (To Rev. Mr. Miller, 1808. C. V., 236.) 

Religion. — I believe that he who steadily observes those 
moral precepts in which all religions concur, will never be ques- 
tioned at the gates of heaven, as to the dogmas in which they 
all dififer. That on entering time, all these are left behind us, 
and the Aristides and Catos, the Penns and Tillotsons, Presby- 
terians and Baptists, are in concert with the reason of the 
supreme mind. Of all the systems of morality, ancient or 



362 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

modern, which has come under my observation, none appear 
to me so pure as that of Jesus. He who follows this steadily 
need not, I think, be uneasy, although he cannot comprehend 
the subtilities and mysteries erected on his doctrines by those 
who, calling themselves his special followers and favorites, 
would make him to come into the world to lay snares for all 
understandings but theirs. These metaphysical heads, usurp- 
ing the judgment sent of God, denounce as his enemies all who 
cannot perceive the geometrical logic of Euclid in the demon- 
strations of St. Athanasius, that three are one, and one is three; 
and yet that the one is not three nor the three one. In all 
essential points you and I are of the same religion; and I am 
too old to go into inquiries and changes as to the unessential. 
(To William Canby, 1813. C. VI., 210.) 

Religion. — I very much suspected that if thinking men would 
have the courage to think for themselves, and to speak what 
they think, it would be found they do not differ in religious 
opinions as much as is supposed. I remember to have heard 
Dr. Priestly say, that if all England would candidly examine 
themselves and confess they would find that Unitarianism was 
really the religion of all; and I observe a bill is now pending 
in Parliament for the relief of Anti-Trinitarians. It is too late 
in the day for men of sincerity to pretend they believe in the 
Platonic mysticisms that three are one, and one is three; and 
yet that the one is not three, and the three are not one, to: divide 
mankind by a single letter into Homoiousians and Homoousians. 
But this constitutes the craft, the power and the profit of the 
priests. Sweep away their gossamer fabrics of factitious re- 
ligion, and they would catch no more flies. We should all then, 
like the Quakers, live without an order of priests, moralize for 
ourselves, follow the oracle of conscience, and say nothing about 
what no man can understand, nor therefore believe; for I sup- 
pose belief to be the assent of the mind to an intelligible propo- 
sition. (To John Adams, 1813. C. VI., 191.) 

Religion. — I must ever believe that religion substantially 
good which produces an honest life, and we have been author- 
ized by one whom you and I equally respect, to judge of the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 363 

tree by its roots. Our particular principles of religion are a 
subject of accountability to one God alone. I inquire after 
no man's, and trouble none with mine; nor is it given to us in 
this life to know whether yours or mine, our friends or our 
foes, are exactly the right. Nay, we have heard it said that 
there is not a Quaker or a Baptist, a Presbyterian or an Episco- 
palian, a Catholic or a Protestant in heaven; that, on entering" 
that gate, we leave those badges of schism behind, and find 
ourselves united in those principles only in which God has united 
us all. Let us not be uneasy then about the different roads we 
may pursue, as believing them the shortest, to that our last 
abode; but, following the guidance of a good conscience, let 
us be happy in the hope that by these different paths we shall 
all meet in the end. (To Miles King, 1814. C. VI., 388.) 

Religion. — For it is in our lives and not from our words, 
that our religion must be read. By the same test the world 
must judge me. But this does not satisfy the priesthood. They 
must have a positive, a declared assent to all their interest 
absurdities. My opinion is that there would never have been 
an infidel, if there never had been a priest. The artificial 
structures they have built on the purest of all moral systems, 
for the purpose of deriving from it pence and power, revolts 
those who think for themselves and who read in that system 
only what is really there. These, therefore, they brand with 
such nick-names as their enmity devises gratuitously to impute. 
I have left the world, in silence, to judge of causes from their 
effects; and I am consoled in this course, my dear friend, when 
I perceive the candor with which I am judged by your justice 
and discernment; and but, notwithstanding the slanders of the 
saints, my fellow citizens, have thought me worthy of trusts. 
The imputations of irreligion having spent their force, they 
think an imputation of change might now be turned to account 
as a bolster for their duperies. I shall leave them, as heretofore, 
to grope on in the dark. (To Mrs. Harrison Smith. 18 16. C. 
VIL. 28.) 

Religion. — See Christianity. 

Religious Freedom. — I am really mortified to be told that, in 



364 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the United States of America, a fact like this can become a 
subject of inquiry, and a criminal inquiry too, as an ofTense 
against religion; that a question about the sale of a book can 
be carried before the civil magistrate. Is this then our free- 
dom of religion? And are we to have a censor w^hose im- 
primatur shall say v^hat books may be sold, and what we may 
buy? And who is thus to dogmatize religious opinions for our 
citizens? Whose foot is to be the measure tO' which ours are 
all to be cut or stretched? Is a priest to be our inquisitor, or 
shall a layman simple as ourselves, set up his reason as the 
rule for what we are to read, and what we must believe? It 
is an insult to our citizens to question whether they are rational 
beings or not, and blasphemy against religion to suppose it can- 
not stand the test of truth and reason. If M. de Becourt's book 
be false in its facts, disprove them; if false in its reasoning, refute 
it. But, for God's sake, let us freely hear both sides, if we 
choose. (To M. Dufief, 1814. C. VI., 340.) 

Religion of Jefferson. — But while this syllabus is meant to 
place the character of Jesus in its true and high light, as nc 
impostor himself, but a great reformer of the Hebrew code of 
religion, it is not to be understood that I am with him in all 
his doctrines. I am a Materialist; he takes the side of Spirit- 
uahsm; he preaches the ef^cacy of repentance towards forgive- 
ness of sin; I require a counterpoise of good works to redeem 
it, etc., etc. It is the innocence of his character, the purity 
and sublimity of his moral precepts, the eloquence of his incul- 
cations, the beauty of his apalogues in which he conveys them, 
that I do so much admire; sometimes, indeed, needing indul- 
gence to eastern hyperbolism. My eulogies, too, may be found 
on a postulate which may not be ready to grant. Among the 
sayings and discourses imputed to him by his biographers, I 
find many passages of fine imaginations, correct morality, and 
of the most lovely benevolence; and others, again, of so much 
ignorance, of so much absurdity, so much untruth, charlatanism 
and imposture, as to pronounce it impossible that such con- 
tradictions should have proceeded from the same being. I 
separate, therefore, the gold from the dross; restore to him the 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 365 

former, and leave the latter to the stupidity of some, and 
roguery of others of his disciples. Of this band of dupes and 
impostors, Paul was the great Coryphaeus, and first corrupter 
of the doctrines of Jesus. (To William Short, 1820. C. VII., 

I55-) 

Representation. — When the representative body have lost the 
confidence of their constituents, when they have notoriously 
made sale of their most valuable rights, when they have as- 
sumed to themselves powers which the people never put into 
their hands, then indeed their continuing in office becomes dan- 
gerous to the State, and calls for an exercise of the power of 
dissolution. (From ''A Summary View," 1774. F. I., 442,) 

Republicanism. — I see with great pleasure every testimony 
to the principles of pure Republicanism, and every effort to pre- 
serve untouched that partition of the sovereignty which our 
excellent Constitution has made, between the general and par- 
ticular governments. I am firmly persuaded that it is by giving 
due tone to the latter, that the former will be preserved in vigor 
also, the Constitution having foreseen its incompetency to all 
the objects of government and therefore confined it to three 
specially described. * * * It is hoped that by a due poise 
and partition of powers between the general and particular gov- 
ernments, we have found the secret of extending the benign 
blessings of republicanism over still greater tracts than we pos- 
sess. (To James Sullivan, 1791. F. V., 369.) 

Republicanism. — There are in the United States some char- 
acters of opposite principles; some of them are high in office; 
others possessing great w^ealth, and all of them hostile to France 
and fondly looking to England as the staff of their hope. Their 
prospects have certainly not brightened. Excepting them, this 
country is entirely Republican, friends to the Constitution, 
anxious to preserve it and to have it administered according to 
its own Republican principles. The little party above mentioned 
have espoused it only as a stepping stone to monarchy and have 
endeavored to approximate it to that in its administration in 
order to render its final transition more easy. The successes 
of Republicanism in France have given the coup de grace to 



366 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

their prospects and I hope to their projects. (To William Short, 
1793. F. VI., 155.) 

Republicanism. — The Constitution to which we are all at- 
tached was meant to be Republican, and we believe to be Repub- 
lican according to every candid interpretation. Yet we have 
seen it so interpreted and administered as to be truly what the 
French have called a monarchie masque. So long has the vessel 
run on this way and been trimmed to it that to^ put her on her 
Republican tack will require all the skill, the firmness and the 
zeal of her ablest and best friends. (To Robert Livingston, 
1800. F. VII., 464.) 

Republicanism. — See Democracy. 

Republics. — Convinced that the Republican is the only form 
of government which is not eternally at open or secret war with 
the rights of mankind, my prayers and efforts shall be cordially 
distributed to the support of that we have so happily estab- 
lished. It is indeed an animating thought that, while we are 
securing the rights of ourselves and our posterity, we are point- 
ing out the way to struggling nations who wish like us, to 
emerge from their tyrannies also. Heaven help their struggles 
and lead them, as it has done us, triumphantly through them. 
(From a reply to an address of the Mayor and citizens of Alex- 
andria, 1790. F. v., 147.) 

Republics. — Perhaps it will be found that to obtain a just 
republic (and it is to secure our just rights that we resort to 
government at all) it must be so extensive as that local egoisms 
may never reach its greater part; that on every particular ques- 
tion a majority may be found in its councils free from particular 
interests and giving therefore an uniform prevalence to the 
principles of justice. The smaller the societies, the more violent 
and convulsive their schisms. We have chanced to live in an 
age which will probably be distinguished in history for its ex- 
periments in government on a larger scale than has as yet 
taken place. But we shall not live to see the result. The 
grosser absurdities such as hereditary magistracies, v/e shall see 
exploded in our day. * * * g^t- -^yhat is to be the substi- 
tute? This our children or grandchildren will answer. It is un- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 367 

fortunate that the efforts of mankind to recover the freedom of 
which they have been so long deprived will be accompanied 
with violence, with errors and even with crimes. But while we 
weep over the means, we may pray for the end. (To M. D'lver- 
nois, 1795. F. VII., 4.) 

Republics. — It (the recent election of President) furnishes a 
new doctrine that a republic can be preserved only in a small 
territory. The reverse is the truth. Had our territory been 
even a third only of what it is we were gone. But while frenzy 
and delusion like an epidemic gained certain parts, the residue 
remained sound and untouched, and held on till their brethren 
could recover from the temporary delusion. (To Nathaniel 
Niles, 1801. F. VIIL, 24.) 

Republics. — Were I to assign to this term a precise and 
definite idea, I would say, merely and simply, it means a gov- 
ernment by its citizens in mass, acting directly and personally, 
according to rules established by the majority; and that every 
other government is more or less Republican, in proportion as 
it has in its composition more or less of this ingredient of the 
direct action of the citizens. Such a government is evidently 
restrained to very narrow limits of space and population. I 
doubt if it would be practicable beyond the extent of a New 
England township. The first shade from the pure which, like 
that of pure vital air, cannot sustain life itself, would be where 
the powers of the government, being divided, should be ex- 
ercised each by representatives chosen either, pro hac vice, or 
for such short terms as should render secure the duty of ex- 
pressing the will of their constituents. This I should consider 
as the nearest approach to a pure Republic, which is practicable 
on a large scale of country or population. * * * jj^ ^j-jg gg^-j_ 
era! government, the House of Representatives is mainly Re- 
publican; the Senate scarcely so at all, as not elected by the 
people directly, and so long secured even against those who do 
elect them; the Executive more Republican than the Senate, 
from its shorter term, its election by the people, in practice 
(for they vote for A only on an assurance that he will vote for 
B) and because, in practice also, a principle of rotation seems 



368 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

to be in a course of establishment; the judiciary independent 
of the nation, their coercion by impeachment being found 
nugatory. 

If, then, the control of the people over the organs of their 
government be the measure of its Republicanism, and I confess 
I know no other measure, it must be agreed that our govern- 
ments have much less of Republicanism than ought to have been 
expected; in other words, that the people have less regular con- 
trol over their agents, than their rights and their interests 
require. And this I ascribe, not to any want of Republican 
dispositions in those who formed these constitutions, but to a 
submission of true principle to European authorities, to specu- 
lators on government, whose fears of the people have been 
inspired by the populace of their own great cities, and were 
unjustly entertained against the independent, the happy, and 
therefore orderly citizens of the United States. Much I appre- 
hend that the golden moment is past for reforming these 
heresies. The functionaries of public power rarely strengthen 
in their disposition to abridge it, and an organized call for 
timely amendment is not likely to prevail against an organized 
opposition to it. We are always told that things are going on 
well; why change them? "Chi sta bene, non si muore," said 
the Italian, "let him who stands well, stand still." This is true; 
and I verily believe they would go on well with us under an 
absolute monarch, while our present character remains, of order, 
industry and love of peace and restrained, as he would be, by 
the proper spirit of the people. But it is while it remains such, 
we should provide against the consequences of its deterioration. 
And let us rest in hope that it will yet be done, and spare our- 
selves the pain of evils which may never happen. 

On this view of the import of the term Republic, instead of 
saying, as has been said, ''that it may mean anything or noth- 
ing," we may say with truth and meaning, that governments are 
more or less Republican, as they have more or less of the element 
of popular election and control in their composition; and be- 
lieving, as I do, that the mass of the citizens is the safest deposi- 
tory of their own rights, and especially, that the evils flowing 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 369 

from the duperies of the people, are less injurious than those 
from the egoism of their agents, I am a friend to that composi- 
tion of government which has in it the most of this ingredient. 
And I sincerely believe, with you, that banking establishments 
are more dangerous than standing armies; and that the prin- 
ciple of spending money to be paid by posterity, under the 
name of funding, is but swindling futurity on a large scale. (To 
John Taylor, 181 6. F. X., 28-31.) 

Residence of Congressmen. — Is the necessity now urgent, to 
declare that no non-residents of his district shall be eligible as 
a member of Congress? It seems to me that, in practice, the 
partialities of the people are a sufficient security against such 
an election; and that if, in any instance, they should ever choose 
a non-resident, it must be one of such eminent merit and 
qualifications, as would make it a good, rather than an evil; 
and that, in any event, the examples will be so rare, as never to 
amount to a serious evil. If the case then be neither clear nor 
urgent, w^ould it not be better to let it be undisturbed? Per- 
haps its decision may never be called for. But if it be indis- 
pensable to establish this disqualification now, would it not look 
better to declare such others, at the same time, as may be 
proper? I frankly cannot wish to have them go further. (To 
J. C. Cahall, 1814. C. VI., 310.) 

Retirement. — There may be people to whose tempers and 
dispositions contention is pleasing, and who, therefore, wish a 
continuance of confusion, but to me it is of all states but one 
the most horrid. My first wish is a restoration of our just 
rights; my second a return of the happy period, when consist- 
ently with duty I may withdraw myself totally from the public 
stage, and pass the rest of my days in domestic ease and tran- 
quillity, banishing every desire of ever hearing what passes in 
the world. (To John Randolph, 1775. F. I., 482.) 

Retirement. — Before I ventured to declare to my country- 
men my determination to retire from public employment, I 
examined well my heart to know whether it were thoroughly 
cured of ever)- principle of political ambition, whether no lurk- 
ing particle remained which might leave me uneasy when re- 



370 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

duced within the limits of mere private Hfe. I became satisfied 
that every fibre of that passion was thoroughly eradicated. (To 
James Monroe, 1782. F. IIL, 56.) 

Retirement. — It is a thing of mere indifference to the public 
whether I retain or relinquish my purpose of closing my tour 
with the first periodical renovation of the government. I know 
my own measure too well to suppose that my services contribute 
anything to the public confidence or the public utility. Multi- 
tudes can fill the office in which you have been pleased to place 
me, as much to their advantage and satisfaction. I, therefore, 
have no motive to consult but my own inclination, which is bent 
irresistibly on the tranquil enjoyment of my family, my farms 
and my books. (To Washington, 1792. F. VI., 6.) 

Retirement. — In the meantime, I am going to Virginia. I 
have at length become able to fix that to the beginning of the 
New Year. I am then to be liberated from the hated occupa- 
tions of politics, and to remain in the bosom of my family, my 
farm and my books. I have my house to build, my fields to 
farm, and to watch for the happiness of those who labor for 
mine. I have one daughter married to a man of science, sense, 
virtue and competence. (To Mrs. Church, 1793. F. VI., 455.) 

Retirement. — There has been a time when perhaps the esteem 
of the world was of higher value in my eyes than everything 
in it. But age, experience and reflection, preserving to that its 
only due value, have set a higher on tranquillity. The motion 
of my blood no longer keeps time with the tumult of the world. 
It leads me to seek for happiness in the lap and love of my 
family, in the society of my neighbors and my books, in the 
wholesome occupations of my farm and my affairs, in an interest 
or affection in every bud that opens, in every breath that blows 
around me, in an entire freedom of rest or motion, of thought 
or incogitancy, owing account to myself alone of my hours 
and actions. What must be the principle of that calculation 
which should balance against these the circumstances of my 
present existence! Worn down with labors from morning to 
night and day to day; knowing them as fruitless to others as 
they are vexatious to myself, committed singly in desperate 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 371 

and eternal contest against a host who are systematically un- 
dermining the public liberty and prosperity, cut off from my 
family and friends, my affairs abandoned to chaos and derange- 
ment; in short, giving everything I love in exchange for every- 
thing I hate, and all this without a single gratification in posses- 
sion or prospect, in present enjoyment or future wish. (To 
James Madison, 1793. F. VI., 292.) 

Retirement. — Within a few days I retire to my family, my 
books and farms; and having gained the harbor myself, I shall 
look on my friends still buffeting the storm with anxiety 
indeed, but not with envy. Never did a prisoner, released from 
his chains, feel such relief as I shall on shaking off the shackles 
of power. Nature intended me for the tranquil pursuits of 
science, by rendering them my supreme delight. But the enor- 
mities of the times in which I have lived, have forced me to 
take a part in resisting them, and to commit myself on the 
boisterous ocean of political passions. I thank God for the 
opportunity of retiring from them without censure, and carry- 
ing with me the most consoling proofs of public approbation. 
(To Dupont de Nemours, 1809. C. V., 432.) 

Revenue. — Is it consistent with good policy or free govern- 
ment to establish a perpetual revenue? Is it not against the 
practice of our wise British ancestors? Have not the instances 
in which we have departed from this in Virginia been con- 
stantly condemned by the universal voice of our country? Is 
it safe to make the governing power when once seated in office, 
independent of its revenue? (To Edmund Pendleton, 1776. 
F. II., 79-) 

Revolution (Causes). — The seeds of the war are here traced 
to their true source. Tlie Tory education of the king was the 
first preparation for that change in the British Government 
which that party never ceases to wish. This naturally ensured 
Tory administration during his life. At the moment he came 
to the throne and cleared his hands of his enemies by the peace 
of Paris, the assumptions of his unwarrantable right over 
America commenced; they were so signal and followed one an- 
other so close as to prove they were part of a system either to re- 



372 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

duce it under absolute subjection and thereby make it an 
instrument for attempts on Britain itself, or to sever it from 
Britain, so that it might not be a weight in the Whig scale. 
This latter alternative, however, was not considered as the one 
that would take place. They knew so little of America that 
they thought it unable to encounter the little finger of Great 
Britain. (From Answers to the Queries of M. Soules, written 
in Paris, 1776. F. IV., 307.) 

Rhode Island. — How happens it that Rhode Island is op- 
posed to every useful proposition? Her geography accounts 
for it, with the aid of one or two observations. The cultivators of 
the earth are the most virtuous citizens, aiid possess most of 
the amor patriae. Merchants are the least virtuous, and possess 
the least of the amor patriae. The latter reside principally in 
the seaport towns, the former in the interior country. Now 
it happened that of the territory constituting Rhode Island and 
Connecticut, the part containing the seaports was erected into 
a State by itself and called Rhode Island, and that containing 
the interior country was erected into another State called Con- 
necticut, For though it has a little seacoast, there are no 
good ports in it. Hence, it happens that there is scarcely one 
merchant in the whole State of Connecticut, while there is not 
a single man in Rhode Island who is not a merchant of some 
sort. (From Answers to Questions Propounded by M. de 
Meusnier, 1786. F. IV., 144.) 

Rice. — I find in fact that but a small portion of the rice con- 
sumed here is from the American market, but the consumption 
of this article here is immense. If the makers of American 
rice would endeavor to adapt the preparation of it to the taste 
of this country so as to give it over the Mediterranean rice the 
advantage of which it seems susceptible, it would very much 
increase the quantity, for which they may find sale. (To John 
Jay, written in Paris, 1786. F. IV., 237.) 

Rights. — Our legislators are not sufficiently apprised of the 
rightful limits of their power; that their true office is to declare 
and enforce only our natural rights and duties, and to take none 
of them from us. No man has a natural right to commit ag- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 373 

gression on the equal rights of another; and this is all from 
which the laws ought to restrain him; every man is under the 
natural duty of contributing to the necessities of the society; 
and this is all the laws should enforce on him; and, no man 
having a natural right to be the judge between himself and 
another, it is his natural duty to submit to the umpirage of an 
impartial third. When the laws have declared and enforced 
all this, they have fulfilled their functions; and the idea is quite 
unfounded, that on entering into society we give up any natural 
right. (To F. W. Gilmor, 1816. C. VII., 3.) 

Rogues. — I do not believe with the Rochefoucaulds and Mon- 
taignes that fourteen out of fifteen men are rogues; I believe 
a great abatement from that proposition may be made in favor 
of general honesty. But I have always found that rogues would 
be uppermost, and I do not know that the proposition is too 
strong for the higher orders and for those, who rising above 
the swinish multitude, always contrive to nestle themselves into 
places of power and profit. These rogues set out with stealing 
the people's good opinion, and then steal from them right of 
withdrawing it by contriving laws and associations against the 
power of the people themselves. (To IMann Page, 1795. F. 
VII., 24.) 

Rotation. — To prevent every danger which might arise to 
American freedom by continuing too long in office the mem- 
bers of the Continental Congress, to preserve to that body the 
confidence of their friends and to disarm the malignant imputa- 
tion of their enemies, it is earnestly recommended to the several 
provinces, Assemblies or Conventions, of the United Colonies 
that in their future elections of delegates to the Continental 
Congress one-half at least of the persons chosen be such as 
were not of the delegation next preceding, and the residue be 
of such as shall not have served in that ofifice longer than two 
years. (From a resolution offered in the Continental Congress, 
1776. F. II., 61.) 

Rotation. — The second amendment (to the proposed Con- 
stitution) which appears to me essential is the restoring the 
principle of necessar>^ rotation, particularly to the Senate and 



374 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

Presidency; but most of all the last. Re-eligibility makes him 
an officer for life, and the disasters inseparable from an elective 
monarchy, render it preferable, if we cannot tread back that 
step, that we should go forward and take refuge in an hereditary 
one. * * * The natural progress of things is for liberty to 
yield and government to gain ground. (To Edward Carring- 
ton, written in Paris, 1788. F. V., 20.) 

Rotation. — When I returned from France, after an absence 
of six or seven years, I was astonished at the change which I 
found had taken place in the United States in that time. No 
more like the same people; their notions, their habits and man- 
ners, the course of their commerce, so totally changed, that I, 
who stood in those of 1784, found myself not at all qualified to 
speak their sentiments, or forward their views in 1790. Very 
soon, therefore, after entering on the office of Secretary of 
State. I recommended to General Washington to establish as 
a rule of practice, that no person should be continued for for- 
eign mission beyond an absence of six, seven or eight years. 
(To William Short, 1801. F. VIII., 95.) 

Rotation. — That there are in our country a great number 
of characters entirely equal to the management of its affairs, 
cannot be doubted. Many of them, indeed, have not had op- 
portunities of making themselves known to their fellow-citizens; 
but many have had, and the only difficulty will be to choose 
among them. These changes are necessary, too, for the security 
of Republican government. If some period be not fixed, either 
by the Constitution or by practice, to the services of the First 
Magistrate, his office, though nominally elective, will, in fact, be 
for Hfe; and that will soon degenerate into an inheritance. (To 
Mr. Weaver, 1807. C. V., 89.) 

Rotation. — I am sensible of the kindness of your rebuke on 
my determination to retire from office at a time when our coun- 
try is laboring under diffi.culties truly great. But if the prin- 
ciple of rotation be a sound one, as I conscientiously believe 
it to be with respect to this office, no pretext should ever be 
permitted to dispense with it, because there never will be a 
time when real difficulties do not exist, and furnish a plausible 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 375 

pretext for dispensation, (To Henry Guest, 1809. C. V., 407.) 
Salaries. — Be assured we are the lowest and most obscure of 
the whole diplomatic tribe. When I was in Congress, I chose 
never to intermeddle on the subject of salary, first because I 
was told the eyes of some were turned on me for this office 
(Minister to France) ; and secondly, because I was really ignor- 
ant what might be its expenses. * * * j live here about 
as well as we did at Annapolis. I keep a hired carriage and two 
horses. A riding horse I cannot afford to keep. This still is 
far below the level, and return when I will to America I shall 
be in debt the outfit to Congress. I think I am the first in- 
stance in the world where it has not been given. * * * j 
ask nothing for my time; but think my expenses should be paid 
in a style equal to that of those with whom I am classed. (To 
James Madison, 1784. F. IV., 12.) 

Salvation, — The care of every man's soul belongs to himss'f. 
But what if he neglect the care of it? Well, what if he neglect 
the care of his health or estate, which more nearly relate to the 
state? Will the magistrate make a law that he shall not be 
poor or sick? Laws provide against injury from others; but 
not from ourselves. God himself will not save men against 
their wills. (From Notes on Religion, 1776, F. II., 100.) 

Secession. — In every free and deliberating society there must 
from the very nature of man be opposite parties, and violent 
dissensions and discords; and one of those for the most part 
must prevail over the other for a longer or a shorter time. 
Perhaps this party division is necessary to induce each to watch 
and debate to the people the proceedings of the other. But 
if on a temporary superiority of one party the other is to resort 
to a scission of the Union, no federation can ever exist. If to 
rid ourselves of the present rule of Massachusetts and Connec- 
ticut we break the Union, will the evil stop there? Suppose 
the New England States alone cut off, will our nature be 
changed? Are we not men still to the south of that? And 
with all the passions of men? Immediately, we shall see a 
Pennsylvania and a Virginia party arise in the Residuary Con- 
federacy, and the public mind will be distracted with the same 



376 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

party spirit. What a game, too, will the one party have in their 
hands by eternally threatening the other that unless they do 
so and so they will join their northern neighbors. If we reduce 
our Union to Virginia and North Carolina, immediately the 
conflict will be established between the representatives and these 
two States, and they will end by breaking into their simple 
units. Seeing therefore that an association of men, who will 
not quarrel with one another, is a thing which never yet existed 
from the greatest confederacy of nations down to a town meet- 
ing or a vestr}^; seeing that we must have somebody to quarrel 
with, I had rather keep our New England associates for that 
purpose than to see our bickerings transferred to others. They 
are circumscribed within such narrow limits, and their popula- 
tion so full, that their numbers will ever be the minority, and 
they are marked, like the Jews, with such a perversity of char- 
acter, as to constitute from that circumstance the natural 
division of our parties. A little patience and we shall see the 
reign of witches pass over, their spells dissolved, and the people 
recovering their true sight, restoring their government to its 
true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are suffer- 
ing deeply in spirit and incurring the losses of war and long 
oppressions of enormous public debt. But who can say what 
would be the evils of a scission, and when and where they would 
end? Better keep together as we are, haul off from Europe 
as soon as we can, and from all attachments to any portion of 
it; and if they show their power just sufficiently to hoop us 
together it will be the happiest situation in which we can exist. 
If the game runs sometime against us at home, we must have 
patience till luck turns. (From a letter to John Taylor, 1798. 
F. VII., 264.) 

Secession. — What, then, does this English faction with you 
mean? Their newspapers say rebellion, and that they will not 
remain united with us unless we will permit them to govern the 
majority. If that be their purpose, their anti-republican spirit, 
it ought to be met at once. But a government like ours should 
be slow in believing this, should put forth its whole might when 
necessary to suppress it, and promptly return to the paths of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 377 

reconciliation. The extent of our country secures it, I hope, 
from the vindictive passions of the petty incorporations of 
Greece. I rather suspect that the principal office of the other 
seventeen States will be to moderate and restrain the local 
excitement of our friends with you, when they (with the aid of 
their brethren of the other States, if they need it) shall have 
brought the reljellious to their feet. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1812. 
C. VI., 63.) 

Secession. — Should the schism be pushed to separation, it 
w^ill be for a short term only; two or three years' trial will bring- 
them back, like quarrelling lovers, to renewed embraces, and 
increased affections. The experiment of separation would soon 
prove to both that they had mutually miscalculated their best 
interests. And even w^ere the parties in Congress to secede in 
a passion, the soberer people would call a convention and 
cement against the severance attempted by the insanity of their 
functionaries. With this consoling view, my greatest grief 
would be for the fatal effect of such an event on the hopes and 
happiness of the world. We exist, and are quoted, as standing 
proofs that a government, so modelled as to rest continually 
on the will of the whole society, is a practicable government. 
Were we to break to pieces, it would damp the hopes and the 
efforts of the good, and give triumph to those of the bad, 
through the whole enslaved world. (To Richard Rush, 1820. 
C. VII., 182.) 

Secrecy. — No ground of support of the Executive will ever 
be so sure as a complete knowledge of their proceedings by the 
people; and it is only in cases where the public good would be 
injured, and because it would be injured that proceedings should 
be secret. (From a communication to the President, 1793. F. 
VL, 46.) 

Sedition Law. — I considered, and now^ consider, that law to 
be a nullity, as absolute and as palpable as if Congress had or- 
dered us to fall down and worship a golden image; and that 
it was as much my duty to arrest its execution in every stage, 
as it w'ould have been to have rescued from the fiery furnace 
those who should have been cast into it for refusing to wor- 



373 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ship their image. It was accordingly done, in every instance, 
without asking what the offenders had done, or against whom 
they had offended, but whether the pains they were suffering 
were inflicted under the pretended sedition law. (To Mrs. John 
Adams, 1804. F. VIII., 308.) 

Sedition Law. — You seem to think it developed on the judge 
to decide on the validity of the sedition law. But nothing in 
the Constitution has given them a right to decide for the Execu- 
tive, more than to the Executive to decide for them. Both 
magistracies are equally independent in the sphere of action 
assigned to them. The judges, believing the law constitutional, 
had a right to pass a sentence of fine and imprisonment; be- 
cause the power was placed in their hands by the Constitution. 
But the Executive believing the law to be unconstitutional was 
bound to remit the execution of it; because that power has 
been confined to him by the Constitution. That instrument 
meant that its co-ordinate branches should be checks on each 
other. But the opinion which gives the judges the right to 
decide what laws are constitutional, and what not, not only for 
themselves in their own sphere of action, but for the Legisla- 
ture and Executive also, in their spheres, would make the 
Judiciary a despotic branch. Nor does the opinion of the un- 
constitutionality, and consequent nullity of that law, which is 
confounding all vice and virtue, all truth and falsehood in the 
United States. The power to do that is fully possessed by the 
several State Legislatures. It was reserved to them, and was 
denied to the general government, by the Constitution, ac- 
cording to our construction of it. While we deny that Con- 
gress has a right to control the freedom of the press, we have 
ever asserted the right of the States, and their exclusive right, 
to do so. (To Mrs. John Adams, 1804. F. VIII., 311.) 

Seizure. — Property vvTongfully taken from a friend on a high 
sea is not thereby transferred to the captor. In whatever hands 
it is found it remains the property of those from whom it was 
taken; and any person possessed of it, private or public, has a 
right to restore it. If it comes to the hands of the Executive they 
may restore it. If into those of the Legislature (as by formal 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 379 

payment into the Treasury) they may restore it. Whoever, 
private or pubHc, undertakes to restore it, takes on themselves 
the risk of proving that the goods were taken without authority 
of the law, and consequently that the captor had no right to 
them. The Executive, charged with our exterior relations, 
seems bound, if satisfied of the fact, to do right to the foreign 
nation, and take on itself the risk of justification. (To Secre- 
tary of State, James Aladison, 1801. F. VIII., 73.) 

Self-Government. — Every man and every body of men on 
earth possess the right of self-government. They receive it 
with their being from the hand of nature. Individuals exercise 
it by their single will; collections of men by that of their 
majority; for the law of the majority is the natural law of every 
society of men. When a certain description of men are to 
transact together a particular business, the times and places 
of their meeting and separating depend on their own will; they 
make a part of the natural right of self-government. This, like 
all other natural rights, may be abridged or modified in its ex- 
ercise by their own consent, or by the law of those who depute 
them, and if they meet in the rights of others; but as far as it 
is not abridged or modified, they retain it as a natural right, and 
may exercise it in what form they please, either exclusively 
by themselves or in association with others, or by others alto- 
gether, as they shall agree. (From an opinion upon the ques- 
tion whether the President should veto the bill providing that 
the seat of government be removed to the Potomac, 1790. F. 
v., 205.) 

Self-Government. — We have the same object, the success of 
representative government. Nor are we acting for ourselves 
alone, but for the whole human race. The event of our experi- 
ment is to show whether man can be trusted with self-govern- 
ment. The eyes of suffering humanity are fixed on us with 
anxiety as their only hope, and on such a theatre for such a 
cause we must suppress all smaller passions and local considera- 
tions. The leaders of Federalism say that man cannot be trusted 
with his own government. We must do no act which shall 
replace them in the direction of the experiment. We must not 



380 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

by any departure from principle, disgust the mass of our fellow 
citizens who have confided to us this interesting cause. (To 
Governor Hall. F. VIIL, 156.) 

Self-Govern MENT. — In the great work which has been effected 
in America, no individual has a right to take any great share 
to himself. Our people in a body are wise, because they are 
under the unrestrained and unperverted operation of their own 
understandings. Those whom they have assigned to the direc- 
tion of their affairs have stood with pretty even front. If any 
one of them was withdrawn, many others entirely equal, have 
been ready to fill his place with as good abilities. A nation, 
composed of such materials, and free in all its members from 
distressing wants, furnishes hopeful implements for the inter- 
esting experiment of self-government; and we feel that we are 
acting under obligations not confined to the Hmits of our own 
society. It is impossible not to be sensible that we are acting 
for all mankind; that circumstances denied to others, but in- 
dulged to us, have imposed on us the duty of proving what is 
the degree of freedom and self-government in which a society 
may venture to have its individual members. (To Joseph 
Priestly, 1802. F. VIIL, 158.) 

Senate. — I think the Senate has no right to negative the 
grade. * * * The transaction of business with foreign 
nations is executive altogether. The Senate is not supposed by 
the Constitution to be acquainted with the concerns of the 
executive department. It was intended that these should be 
communicated to them; nor can they, therefore, be qualified 
to judge of the necessity which calls for a mission to any par- 
ticular place, or of the particular grade, more or less marked, 
which special and secret circumstances may call for. All this 
is left to the President; they are only to see that no unfit person 
be employed. * * * jf ^j^g Constitution had meant to give 
the Senate a negative on the grade or destination, as well as in 
the person, it would have said so in direct terms. (From an 
opinion on the question whether the Senate has the right to 
negative the grade of persons appointed by the President to 
fill foreign missions, 1790. F. V., 162.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 381 

Service. — Nothing could so completely divest us of liberty 
as the establishment of the opinion that the State has a per- 
petual right to the services of all its members. This to men of 
certain ways of thinking would be to annihilate the blessings 
of existence; to contradict the giver of life who gave it for 
happiness, not for wretchedness; and certainly to such it were 
better that they had never been born. (To James Monroe, 
1782. F. III., 59.) 

Services of Jefferson. — I have sometimes asked myself 
whether my country is the better for my having lived at all. I 
do not know that it is. I have been the instrument of doing the 
following things; but they would have been done by others, 
some of them perhaps a little better: 

(i) Tlie Rivanna had never been used for navigation; scarce- 
ly an empty canoe had ever passed down it. Soon after I came 
of age, I examined its obstructions, set on foot a subscription 
for removing them, got an Act of Assembly passed, and the 
thing effected so as to be used completely and fully for carry- 
ing down all our produce. 

(2) The Declaration of Independence. 

(3) I proposed the demolition of the church establishment 
and the freedom of religion. * * * j prepared the act for 
religious freedom in 1777, which was not reported to the As- 
sembly till 1779, and that particular law not passed till 1785, 
and then by the efforts of Mr. Madison. 

(4) The Act putting an end to entails. 

(5) The Act prohibiting the importation of slaves. 

(6) The Act concerning citizens and establishing the natural 
right of man to expatriate himself at will. 

(7) The Act changing the course of descents and giving the 
inheritance to all the children, etc., equally, I drew. 

(8) The Act for apportioning crimes and punishments, I 
drew. 

(9) In 1789 and 1790, I had a great number of olive plants 
of the best kind sent from Marseilles to Charleston, for South 
Carolina and Georgia. Tliey were planted, and though not yet 
flourishing, will be the germ of that cultivation in those states. 



382 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

(10) In 1790 I got a cask of heavy upland rice from the 
River Denbigh in Africa, about lat, 9" 30' north, which I sent 
to Charleston in hopes it might supersede the culture of the 
wet rice which renders South Carolina and Georgia so pesti- 
lential through the summer. * * * The greatest service 
which can be rendered any country is to add an useful plant 
to its culture; especially, a bread grain; next in value to bread 
oil. 

(11) Whether the act for the more general diffusion of 
knowledge will ever be carried into complete effect, I know not, 
It was received by the legislature with great enthusiasm at 
first; and a small effort was made in 1796 by the act to estab- 
lish public schools, to carry a part of it into effect, viz., that 
for the establishment of free English schools; but the option 
given to the courts has defeated the intention of the act. 
(Written in 1800 (?). F. VIL, 476.) 

Slavery. — The abolition of domestic slavery is the great ob- 
ject of desire in these colonies, where it was unhappily intro- 
duced in their infant state. But previous to the enfranchisement 
of the slaves we have, it is necessary to exclude all further 
importation from Africa; yet our repeated attempts to effect 
this by prohibitions, and by imposing duties which might 
amount to a prohibition, have hitherto been defeated by his 
majesty's negative; thus preferring the immediate advantages 
of a few British corsairs to the lasting interests of the American 
States, and to the rights of human nature deeply wounded by 
this infamous practice. (From "A Summary View," 1774. F. 
I., 440.) 

Slavery. — No person hereafter coming into this country shall 
be held within the same under any pretext whatever. (From a 
proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. F. II., 26.) 

Slavery. — No persons shall, henceforth, be slaves within this 
commonwealth, except such as were so on the first day of this 
present session of Assembly, and the descendants of the families 
of them. Negroes and mulattoes which shall hereafter be 
brought into this commonwealth and kept therein one whole 
year, together, or so long at different times as shall amount to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 383 

one year, shall be free. But if they shall not depart the com- 
monwealth within one year they shall be out of the protection 
of the laws. (From a bill concerning slaves, rejected by the 
Assembly, 1779. F. 11. , 201.) 

Slavery. — This unfortunate difference of colour, and perhaps 
of faculty, is a powerful obstacle to the emancipation of these 
people. Many of their advocates, while they wish to vindicate 
the liberty of human nature, are anxious also to preserve its 
dignity and beauty. Some of these, embarrassed by the ques- 
tion, ''What further is to be done with them?" join themselves 
in opposition with those who are actuated by sordid avarice 
only. Among the Romans emancipation required but one 
effort. The slave, when made free, might mix with, without 
staining the blood of his master. But with us a second is neces- 
sary, unknown to history. When freed he is to be removed 
beyond the reach of mixture. (From "Notes on Virginia," 
1782. F. III., 250.) 

Slavery. — It is impossible to be temperate and pursue this 
subject through the various considerations of policy, of morals, 
or history, natural and civil. We must be contented to hope 
they will force their way into everyone's mind. I think a change 
already perceptible, since the origin of the present revolution. 
The spirit of the master is abating, that of the slave rising from 
the dust, his condition mollifying, the way I hope preparing 
under the auspices of heaven, for a total emanicipation, and that 
this is disposed, in the order of events, to be with the consents 
of the masters, rather than by their extirpation. (From "Notes 
on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 267.) 

Slavery. — Indeed, I tremble for my country when I reflect 
that God is just: that his justice cannot sleep forever: that con- 
sidering members, nature, and natural means only, a revolution 
of the wheel of fortune, an exchange of situation, is among 
possible events; that it may become probable by supernatural 
interference. The Almighty has no attribute which can take 
side with us in such a contest (with slaves). (From "Notes on 
Virginia," 1782. F. III., 267.) 

Slavery. — With what execrations should the statesman be 



3S4 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

loaded, who, permitting one-half the citizens thus to trample on 
the rig-hts of the other, transforms those into despots, and these 
into enemies, destroys the morals of one part, and the amor 
patriae of the other. For if a slave can have a country in this 
world, it must be any other in preference to that in which he 
is born to live and labour for another: in which he must lock 
up the faculties of his nature, contribute as far as depends upon 
his individual endeavors to the evanishment of the human race, 
or entail his own miserable condition on the endless generations 
proceeding from him. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. 
III., 267.) 

Slavery. — With the morals of a people, their industry also 
is destroyed. For in a warm climate, no man will labour for 
himself who can make another labour for him. This is so true, 
that of the proprietors of slaves a very small proportion indeed 
are ever seen to labour. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. 
F. III., 267.) 

Slavery. — There must doubtless be an unhappy influence on 
the manners of our people produced by the existence of slavery 
among us. The whole commerce between master and slave 
is a perpetual exercise of the most boisterous passions, the most 
unremitting despotism on the one part, and degrading submis- 
sion on the other. Our children see this, and learn to imitate 
it; for man is an imitative animal. This quality is the germ of 
all education in him. From his cradle to his grave he is learn- 
ing to do what he sees others do. If a parent could find no 
other motive either in his philanthropy or his self-love, for 
restraining the intemperance of passion towards his slave, it 
should always be a sufficient one that his child is present. But 
generally, it is not sufficient. The parent storms, the child looks 
on, catches the lineaments of wrath, puts on the same airs in the 
circle of smaller slaves, gives a loose to the worst of passions, 
and thus nursed, educated and daily exercised in tyranny, cannot 
but be stamped by it with odious peculiarities. (From "Notes 
on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 267.) 

Slavery. — The General Assembly shall not have power to per- 
mit the introduction of any more slaves to reside in this State, 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 385 

or the continuance of slavery beyond the generations which 
shall be living on the thirty-first day of December, one thou- 
sand, eight hundred; all persons born after that day being 
hereby declared free. (From a proposed Constitution for Vir- 
ginia, 1783. F. III., 324.) 

Slavery. — After the year 1800 of the Christian era, there 
should be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in any of 
the said states, otherwise than in punishment of crimes whereof 
the party shall have been convicted to have been personally 
guilty. (From a clause in a report to Congress for a plan of 
government for western territory, 1784. F. III., 432.)* 

Slavery. — In Maryland, I do' not find such a disposition to 
begin a redress of this enormity (slavery) as in Virginia. This 
is the next State to which we may turn our eyes for the interest- 
ing spectacle of justice in conflict with avarice and oppression; 
a conflict wherein the sacred side is gaining daily recruits, from 
the influx into office of young men grown and growing up. 
These have sucked in the principles of liberty as it were with 
their mothers' milk; and it is to them I look with anxiety to 
iturn the fate of this question. (Written from Paris to Dr. 
Richard Price, 1785. F. IV., 83.) 

Slavery. — What a stupendous, what an incomprehensible 
machine is man! Who can endure toil, famine, stripes, im- 
prisonment and death itself in vindication of his own liberty, 
and the next moment be deaf to all those motives whose power 
supported him through his trial, and inflict on his fellow men 
a bondage, one hour of which is fraught with more misery than 
ages of that which he rose in rebellion to oppose. But we must 
wait with patience the workings of an overruling providence 
and hope that that is preparing the deliverance of these our 
suffering brethren. When the measure of their tears shall be 
full, when their groans shall have involved heaven itself in dark- 
ness, doubtless a god of justice will awaken to their distress, 
and by diffusing light and liberality among their oppressors, or 



*If this clause had been adopted, slavery would have been excluded from 
all the admitted States of the Union. It failed by one vote. 



386 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

at length by his exterminating thunder, manifest his attention 
to the things of this world and that they are not left to the 
guidance of a blind fatality. (Written in Paris to M. de Meus- 
nier, 1786. F. IV., 185.) 

Slavery. — Sir : I am very sensible of the honor you propose 
to me of becoming a member of the society for the abolition 
of the slave trade. You know that nobody wishes more 
ardently to see an abolition not only of the trade but of the 
conditions of slavery; and certainly nobody will be more willing 
to encounter every sacrifice for that object. But the influence 
and information of the friends to this proposition in France will 
be far above the needs of my association. I am here as a public 
servant; and those whom I serve never having yet been able 
to give their voice against this practice, it is decent for me to 
avoid too public a demonstration of my wishes to see it abol- 
ished. Without serving the cause here, it might render me less 
able to serve it beyond the water. (To Jean Pierre Bussot, 
Paris, 1788. F. V., 6.) 

Slavery. — I have long since given up the expectation of any 
early provision for the extinguishment of slavery among us. 
There are many virtuous men who would make any sacrifices 
to effect it, many equally virtuous who persuade themselves 
either that the thing is not wrong, or that it cannot be remedied, 
and very many with whom interest is morality. The older we 
grow, the larger we are disposed to believe the last party to be. 
But interest is really going over to the side of morality. The 
value of the slave is every day lessening; his burden on his 
master daily increasing. Interest is therefore preparing the 
disposition to be just; and this will be goaded from time to time 
by the insurrectionary spirit of the slaves. This is easily 
quelled in its first efforts; but from being local it will become 
general, and whenever it does it will rise more formidable after 
every defeat, until we shall be forced, after dreadful scenes and 
sufferings to release them in their own way, which, without 
such sufferings we might now model after our own conven- 
ience. (To W. A. Burwell, 1805. F. VIII., 340.) 

Slavery. — I congratulate you, fellow-citizens, on the approach 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 387 

of the period at which you may interpose your authority con- 
stitutionally, to withdraw the citizens of the United States from 
all further participation in those violations of human rights 
which have been so long continued on the unoffending in- 
habitants of Africa, and which the morality, the reputation, and 
the best interests of our country have long been eager to pro- 
scribe. (Sixth Annual Message, 1806. F. VIII, , 492.) 

Slavery. — My sentiments on the subject of slavery of negroes 
have long since been in the possession of the public, and time 
has only served to give them strong root. The love of justice 
and the love of country plead equally the cause of these people, 
and it is a moral reproach to us that they should have pleaded 
it so long in vain, and should have produced not a single effort, 
nay, I fear not much serious willingness to relieve them and 
ourselves from our present condition of moral and political 
reprobation. From those of the former generations who were 
in the fullness of age when I came into public life, which was 
while our controversy with England was on paper only, I soon 
saw that nothing was to be hoped. Nursed and educated in the 
daily habit of seeing the degraded condition, both bodily and 
mentally, of those unfortunate beings, not reflecting that that 
degradation was very much the work of themselves and their 
fathers, few minds have yet doubted but that they were as 
legitimate subjects of property as their horses and cattle. The 
quiet and monotonous course of colonial life has been disturbed 
by no alarm and little reflection on the value of liberty. And 
alarm was taken at an enterprise on their own, it was not easy 
to carry them to the whole length of the principles which they 
invoked for themselves. In the first or second session of the 
legislature after I became a member, I drew on this subject the 
attention of Col. Bland, one of the oldest, ablest and most re- 
spected members, and he undertook to move for certain moder- 
ate extensions of protections of the laws of these people. I 
seconded his motion, and as a younger member was more spared 
in the debate; but he was denounced as an enemy of his coun- 
try and was treated with the grossest indecorum. From an 
early stage of our revolution other and more distant duties were 



388 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

assigned to me, so that from that time till my return from 
Europe in 1789, and I may say till I returned to reside at 
home in 1809, I had little opportunity of knowing the progress 
of public sentiment here on this subject. I had always hoped 
that the younger generation receiving their early impressions 
after the flame of liberty had been kindled in every breast, and 
become as it were the vital spirit of every American, that the 
generous temperament of youth, analogous to the motion of 
their blood, and above the suggestions of avarice would have 
sympathized with oppression wherever found and proved their 
love for liberty beyond their own share of it. But my inter- 
course with them since my return has not been sufficient to 
ascertain that they had made toward this point the progress I 
had hoped. Your solitary but welcome voice is the first which 
has brought this to my ear; and I have considered the general 
silence which prevails on this subject as indicating an apathy 
unfavorable to every hope. Yet the hour of emancipation is 
advancing in the march of time. It will come; and whether 
brought on by the generous energy of our own minds, or by 
the bloody process of St. Domingo, excited and conducted 
by the power of our present enemy, if one stationed permanently 
within our country and offering asylums and arms to the op- 
pressed, is a leaf of history not yet turned over. As to the 
method by which this difficult work is to be effected if per- 
mitted to be done by ourselves, I have seen no proposition so 
expedient on the whole as that of emancipation of those born 
after a given day, and of their education and expatriation after 
a given age. Tliis would give time for a gradual extinction of 
that species of labor and substitution of another, and lessen the 
severity of the shock which an operation so fundamental cannot 
fail to produce. For men probably of any color, but of this color 
we know, brought from their infancy without necessity fore- 
thought or forecast are by their habits rendered as incapable 
as children of taking care of themselves, and are extinguished 
promptly wherever industry is necessary for raising young. In 
the meantime they are pests in society by their idleness and 
the depredations to which this leads them. Tlieir amalgama- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 389 

tion with the other color produces a degradation to which no 
lover of his country, no lover of excellence in the human char- 
acter can innocently consent. I am sensible of the partialities 
with which you have looked towards me as the person who 
should undertake this salutary and arduous work. But this, 
my dear sir, is like bidding old Priam to buckle on the armor 
of Hector, "treuicntibus aez^o humeris et inutile ferriim cingi." 
No, I have over-lived the generation with which mutual labors 
and perils beget mutual confidence and influence. This enter- 
prise is for the young, for those who can follow it up and bear 
it through to its consummation. It shall have all my prayers, 
and these are the only weapons of an old man. But in the 
meantime are you right in abandoning this property and your 
country with it? I think not. My opinion has ever been that 
until more can be done for them we should endeavor with those 
whom fortune has thrown on our hands to feed and clothe them 
well, protect them from all ill usage, require such reasonable 
labor only as is performed voluntarily by freemen, and be led 
by no repugnancies to abdicate them and our duties to them. 
The laws do not permit us to turn them loose if that were for 
their good, and to commute them for other property is to com- 
mit them to wdiose usage of them we cannot control. I hope 
then, my dear sir, you will reconcile yourself to your country 
and its unfortunate condition, that you will not lessen its stock 
of sound disposition by withdrawing your portion from the 
mass. That, on the contrary, you will come forward in the 
public councils, become the missionary of the doctrine truly 
Christian, insinuate and inculcate it softly but steadily through 
the medium of writing and conversation, associate others in 
your labors, and when the phalanx is formed bring in and press 
the proposition perseveringly until its accomplishment. It is 
an encouraging observation that no good measure was ever 
proposed which if duly pursued failed to prevail in the end. 
We have proof of this in the history of the endeavors in the 
English parliament to suppress that very trade which brought 
this evil on us. And you will be supported by the religious 
precept "Be not weary in well doing." That your success may 



39© THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

be as speedy and complete as it will be of honorable and im- 
mortal consolation to yourself, I shall as fervently and sincerely 
pray as I assure you of my great friendship and respect. (To 
Edward Coles, 1814. F. IX., 477.) 

Slavery. — This momentous question, like a fire-bell in the 
night, awakened and filled me with terror. I considered it at once 
as the knell of the Union. It is hushed indeed for the moment. 
But this is a reprieve only, not a final sentence. A geographical 
line, coinciding with a marked principle, moral and political, 
once conceived and held up to the angry passions of men, will 
never be obliterated; and every new irritation will mark it deeper 
and deeper. I can say, with conscious truth, that there is not 
a man on earth who would sacrifice more than I would to relieve 
us from this heavy reproach, in any practicable way. The 
cession of that kind of property, for so it is misnamed, is a 
bagatelle which would not cost me a second thought, if, in that 
way, a general emancipation and expatriation could be effected; 
and, gradually, and with due sacrifices, I think it might be. But 
as it is, we have the wolf by the ears, and we can neither hold 
him, nor safely let him go. Justice is in one scale, and self- 
preservation in the other. (To John Holmes, 1820. C. VII., 

1 59-) 

South America. — The Southern provinces, I fear, must end 
in military despotisms. The different castes of their inhab- 
itants, their mutual hatreds and jealousies, their profound ignor- 
ance and bigotry will be played off by cunning leaders, and 
each be made the instrument of enslaving the other. But of all 
this, you can best judge, for in truth we have little knowledge 
of them to be depended on, but through you. But in whatever 
governments they end they will be American governments, no 
longer to be involved in the never-ceasing broils of Europe. The 
European nations constitute a separate division of the globe ; their 
localities make them part of a distinct system ; they have a set of 
interests of their own in which it is our business never to engage 
ourselves. America has a hemisphere to itself. It must have its 
separate system of interests, which must not be subordinate to 
those of Europe. The insulated state in which nature has placed 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 391 

the American Continent, should so far avail it that no spark of 
war kindled in the other quarters of the globe should be wafted 
across the wide ocean which separates us from them, and it will be 
so. (To Baron de Humboldt, 1813, C. VL, 267.) 

Sovereignty. — But your majesty, or your governors, have 
carried this power beyond every limit known, or provided for, 
by the laws. After dissolving one house of representatives 
they have refused to call another, so that for a great length of 
time, the legislature provided by the laws has been out of 
existence. From the nature of things every society must at 
all times possess within itself the sovereign powers of legisla- 
tion. While these bodies are in existence to whom the people 
have delegated the powers of legislation, they alone possess 
and may exercise those powers; but when they are dissolved by 
the lopping off of one or more of their branches, the power 
reverts to the people, who may exercise it to unlimited extent, 
either assembling together in person, sending deputies, or in 
any other way they may think proper, and the frame of govern- 
ment thus dissolved, should the people take upon them to lay 
the throne of your government prostrate, or to discontinue their 
connection with the British empire, none will be so bold as to 
decide against the right or efificacy of such avulsion. (From 
"A Summary View," 1774. F. I., 443.) 

Sovereignty. — That as the United States in Congress assem- 
bled represent the sovereignty of the whole Union, their body 
collectively and their President individually should on all oc- 
casions have precedence of all other bodies and persons. (From 
"Resolve on Continental Congress." 1784 (?). F. III., 464.) 

Sovereignty. — It is the right of every nation to prohibit acts 
of sovereignty from being exercised by any other within its 
limits; and the duty of a neutral nation to prohibit such as 
would injure one of the warring powers; the granting military 
commissions within the United States by any other authority 
than their own is an infringement on their sovereignty, and par- 
ticularly so when granted to their own citizens tO' lead them to 
commit an act contrary to the duties they owe their own coun- 



392 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

try. (Address to the French Minister, Genet, 1792. F. VI., 

283-) 

Sovereignty of the People. — I consider the people who con- 
stitute a society or nation as the source of all authority in that 
nation, as free to transact their common concerns by any agents 
they think proper, to change their agents individually, or the 
organization of them in form or function whenever they please; 
that all the acts done by those agents under the authority of 
the nation, are the acts of the nation, are obligatory upon them 
and enure to their use and can in no wise be annulled or 
affected by any change in the form of the government or of the 
persons administering it. Consequently, the treaties between 
the United States and France were not treaties between the 
United States and Louis Capet, but between the two nations 
of America and France, and the nations remaining in existence, 
though both of them have since changed their form of govern- 
ment, the treaties are not annulled by those changes. (From an 
opinion on French Treaties, 1793. F. VI., 220.) 

Sovereignty. — The whole body of the nation is the sovereign 
legislature, judiciary and executive for itself. The inconven- 
ience of meeting to exercise these powers in person, and their 
inaptitude to exercise them, induce them to appoint special 
organs to declare their legislative will, to judge and execute it. 
It is the will of the nation which makes the law obligatory; it 
is their will which creates or annihilates the organ which is to 
declare or announce it. They may do it by a single person, 
as an Emperor of Russia (constituting his declarations evidence 
of their will) or by a few persons, as the Aristocracy of Venice, 
or by a complication of councils, as in our former regal govern- 
ment, or our past Republican one. The law being law, because it 
is the will of the nation, is not changed by their changing the 
organ through which they choose to announce their future will; 
no more than the acts I have done by one attorney lose their 
obligations by my changing or discontinuing that attorney. 
(To Edmund Randolph. F. VII., 385.) 

Sovereignty. — With respect to our State and Federal gov- 
ernments, I do not think our relations correctly understood by 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 393 

foreigners. They generally suppose the former subordinate to 
the latter. But this is not the case. They are co-ordinate de- 
partments of one simple and integral whole. To the State 
governments are reserved all legislation and administration, in 
affairs which concern their own citizens only, and to the Fed- 
eral government is given whatever concerns foreigners, or the 
citizens of other States; these functions alone being made Fed- 
eral. The one is the domestic, the other the foreign branch of 
the same government; neither having control over the other, 
but within its own department. There are one or two excep- 
tions only to this partition of power. But, you may ask, if the 
two departments should claim each the same subject of power, 
where is the common umpire to decide ultimately between 
them? In cases of little importance or urgency, the prudence 
of both parties will keep them aloof from the questionable 
ground; but if it can neither be avoided nor compromised, a 
convention of the States must be called, to ascribe the doubtful 
power to that department which they may think best. You 
will perceive by these details, that we have not yet so far per- 
fected our constitutions as to venture to make them unchange- 
able. But still, in their present state, we consider them not 
otherwise changeable than by the authority of the people on 
a special election of representatives for that purpose expressly; 
they are until then the lex Icgum. (To John Cartwright, 1824. 
C. VII., 358.) 

Spain. — Our relations with Spain are vitally interesting. 
That they should be of a peaceable and friendly character has 
been our most earnest desire. Had Spain met us with the 
same disposition, our idea was that her existence in this hem- 
isphere and ours, should have rested on the same bottom; 
should have sunk or swum together. We want nothing of 
hers, and we want no other nation to possess what is hers. But 
she has met our advances with jealousy, secret malice and ill- 
faith. Our patience under this unworthy return of disposition 
is now on its last trial. And the issue of what is now depending 
between us will decide whether our relations with her are to 
be sincerely friendly, or permanently hostile. I still wish and 



394 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

would cherish the former, but have ceased to expect it. (To 
U. S. Minister to Spain, 1805. F. VIII., 351.) 

Spain. — Nature has formed that peninsula to be the second, 
and why not the first nation in Europe? Give equal habits of 
energy to bodies, and of science to the minds of her citizens, 
and where could her superior be found? The most advantage- 
ous relation in which she can stand with her American colonies 
is that of independent friendship, secured by the ties of con- 
sanguinity, sameness of language, religion, manners, and habits, 
and certain from the influences of these, of a preference in her 
commerce, if, instead of the eternal irritations, thwartings, 
machinations against their new governments, the insults and 
aggressions which Great Britain has so unwisely practiced to- 
wards us, to force us to hate her against our natural inclinations, 
Spain yields, like a genuine parent, tO' the forisfamiliation of her 
colonies, now at maturity, if she extends to them her affections, 
her aid, her patronage in every court and country, it will weave 
a bond of union indissoluble by time. (To' Valentine de To- 
ronda Corena, 1813. C. VI., 274.) 

Spain. — If the mother country has not the magnanimity to 
part with the colonies in friendship, thereby making them, what 
they would certainly be, her natural and firmest allies, these 
will emancipate themselves, after exhausting her strength and 
resources in ineffectual efiforts to hold them in subjection. They 
will be rendered enemies of the mother country, as England 
has rendered us by an unremitting course of insulting injuries 
and silly provocations. I do not say this from the impulse of 
national interest, for I do not know that the United States would 
find an interest in the independence of neighbor nations, whose 
produce and commerce would rivalize ours. It could only be 
that link of interest which every human being has in the hap- 
piness and prosperity of every other. But putting right and 
reason out of the question, I have no doubt that on calculations 
of interest alone, it is that of Spain to anticipate voluntarily, and 
as a matter of grace, the independence of her colonies, which 
otherwise necessity will enforce. (To Chevalier de Onis, 1814. 
C. VI., 342.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 395 

Spain. — So loiig as her colonies are dependent, Spain, from 
her jealousy, is our natural enemy, and always in either open 
or secret hostility with us. These countries, too, in war will 
be a powerful weight in her scale, and, in peace, totally shut 
to us. Interest, then, on the whole, would wish their inde- 
pendence, and justice makes the wish a duty. They have a 
right to be free, and we have a right to aid them, as a strong 
man has a right to assist a weak one assailed by a robber or 
a murderer. That a war is brewing between us and Spain 
cannot be doubted. When that disposition is matured on 
both sides, and your rupture can no longer be deferred, then 
will be the time for our joining the South Americans, and 
entering into treaties of alliance with them. There will then 
be but one opinion at home or abroad, that we shall be justi- 
fiable in choosing to have them with us, rather than against 
us. In the meantime, they will have organized regular govern- 
ments, and perhaps have formed themselves into one or more 
confederacies; more than one, I hope, as in single mass they 
would be a very formidable neighbor. (To James Monroe. 
1816. C. VI., 550.) 

Spirit of the Law. — Substance not circumstance is to be 
regarded while we have so many foes in our bowels and environ- 
ing us on every side. He is a bad citizen who can entertain 
a doubt whether the law will justify him in saving his country 
or who will scruple to risk himself in support of the spirit of 
the law where avoidable accidents have prevented a literal com- 
pliance with it. (From a circular letter addressed to county 
magistrates during an invasion of Virginia, 1781. F. II., 

43I-) 

State Government. — But the true barriers of our liberty in 
this country are our State Governments, and the wisest con- 
sen^ative power ever contrived by man is that of which our 
Revolution and present government found us possessed. Sev- 
enteen distinct States, amalgamated into one as to their foreign 
concerns, but single and independent as to their internal admin- 
istrations, regularly organized with a Legislature and Governor 
resting on the choice of the people, and enlightened by a free 



396 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

press, can never be so fascinated by the arts of one man as to 
submit voluntarily to his usurpation. Nor can they be con- 
strained to it by any force he can possess. While that may par- 
alyze the single State in which it happens to be encamped, six- 
teen others, spread over a country of two thousand miles diam- 
eter, rise up on every side, ready organized for dehberation by a 
constitutional Legislature, and for action by their Governor, 
constitutionally the commander of the militia of the State, that 
is to say, of every man in it able to bear arms; and that militia, 
too, regularly formed into regiments and battalions, into infan- 
try, cavalry and artillery, trained under officers general and sub- 
ordinate, legally appointed, always in readiness, and to whom 
they are already in habits of obedience. The Republican gov- 
ernment of France was lost without a struggle, because the 
party of "im et indivisible" had prevailed ; no provincial organ- 
izations existed to which the people might rally under authority 
of the laws, the seats of the directory were virtually vacant, and 
a small force sufficed to turn the Legislature out of their cham- 
bers, and to salute its leader chief of the nation. But with us, 
sixteen out of seventeen States rising in mass, under regular 
organization, and legal commanders, united in object and 
action by their Congress, or, if that be in duresse, by a special 
convention, present such obstacles to an usurper as forever to 
stifle ambition in the just conception of that object. 

Dangers of another kind might more reasonably be appre- 
hended from this perfect and distinct organization, civil and 
military, of the States, to wit, that certain States from local 
and occasional discontents, might attempt to secede from the 
Union. This is certainly possible, and would be befriended by 
this regular organization. But it is not probable that local dis- 
contents can spread to such an extent, as to be able to face 
the sound parts of so extensive an Union; and if ever they should 
reach the majority, they would then become the regular gov- 
ernment, acquire the ascendency in Congress, and be able to 
redress their own grievances, by laws peaceably and constitu- 
tionally passed. And even the States in which local discontents 
might engender a commencement of fermentation would be 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 397 

paralyzed and self-checked by that very division into parties 
into which we have fallen, into which all States must fall, ac- 
cording to the diversities of their individual conformations, and 
"which are, perhaps, essential to preserve the purity of the 
government, by the censorship which these parties habitually 
exercise over each other, (To Destutt Tracy, 181 1. C. V., 

570-) 

States. — With respect to the Ultramontane States, will their 
inhabitants be happiest divided into States of 30,000 square 
miles, not quite as large as Pennsylvania, or into States of 
160,000 square miles each, that is to say, three times as large 
as Virginia within the Allegheny? They will not only be hap- 
pier in States of a moderate size, but it is the only way they can 
exist as a regular society. Considering the American character 
in general, that of those people in particular, and the energetic 
nature of our governments, a State of such extent as 160,000 
square miles would soon crumble into pieces. (Written from 
Paris to James Monroe. F. IV., 247.) 

State's Rights. — I wish to preserve the line drawn by the 
Federal Constitution between the general and particular gov- 
ernments as it stands at present, and to take every prudent 
means of preventing either from stepping over jt. * * * 
It is easy to foresee from the nature of things that the en- 
croachments of the State government will tend to an excess 
of liberty which w^ill correct itself, while those of the general 
government will tend to monarchy, which will fortify itself 
from day to day, instead of working its own cure, as all experi- 
ence shows. I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences 
attending too much liberty than those attending too small a 
degree of it. (To Archibald Stuart, 1791. F. V., 409.) 

State's Rights. — I do not think it for the interest of the 
general government itself and still less for the Union at large, 
that the State governments should be so little respected as they 
have been. However, I dare say that in time all these as well 
as their central government, like the planets revolving around 
their common sun, acted and acting upon according to their 
respective weights and distances, v.ill produce that beautiful 



398 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

equilibrium on which our Constitution is founded and which 
I believe it will exhibit to the world in a degree of perfection, 
unexampled but in the planetary system itself. The enlight- 
ened statesman, therefore, will endeavor to preserve the weight 
and influence of every part, as too much given to any member 
of it would destroy the general equilibrium, (To Peregrine 
Fitzhugh, 1798. F. VII., 210.) 

State's Rights. — It is of immense consequence that the States 
retain as complete authority as possible over their own citizens. 
The withdrawing themselves under a foreign jurisdiction is so 
subversive of order and so pregnant of abuse that it may not 
be amiss to consider how far a law of praemunire should be 
revived and modified against citizens who attempt to carry their 
causes before any other than the State courts in cases where 
those other courts have no right to their cognizance. A plea 
to the jurisdiction of the courts of their State, or a reclamatio.x 
of a foreign jurisdiction, if adjudged valid, would be safe; but 
if adjudged invalid would be followed by the punishment of 

praemunire for the attempt. (To James Monroe, 1797. F. 
VII., 173.) 

State's Rights. — We are willing tO' sacrifice to the Union 
and the Constitution everything but the rights of self-govern- 
ment in those important points which we have never yielded, 
and in which alone we see liberty, safety and happiness; we 
are not at all disposed to make every measure of error or of 
wrong, a cause of scission; we are willing to look on with 
indulgence and wait with patience till those passions and de- 
lusions shall have passed over, which the Federal Government 
have artfully excited to cover its own abuses and conceal its 
designs, fully confident that the good sense of the American 
people and their attachment to those very rights, which we are 
now vindicating, will, before it shall be too late, rally with us 
around the true principles of our Federal compact. (To W. C. 
Nicholas, 1799. F. VII., 390.) 

State's Rights. — Our country is too large to have all its 
afifairs directed by a single government. Public service at such 
a distance, and from under the eye of their constituents, must, 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 399 

from the circumstance of distance, be unable to administer and 
overlook all the details necessary for the good government of 
the citizens and the same circumstance, by rendering detection 
impossible to their constituents, will invite the public agents 
to corruption, plunder and waste. And I do verily believe that 
if the principle were to prevail of a common law being in force 
in the United States (which principle possesses the general 
government at once of all the powers of the State govern- 
ments) it would become the most corrupt government on the 
earth. * * * What an augmentation of the field, for job- 
bing, speculating, plundering, ofBce-building and office-hunt- 
ing would be produced by an assumption of all the State pow- 
ers into the hand of the general government! The true theory 
of our Constitution is surely the wisest and best, that the States 
are independent as to everything within themselves and united 
as to everything respecting foreign nations. Let the general 
government be reduced to^ foreign concerns only, and let our 
affairs be disentangled from those of all other nations, except 
as to commerce, which the merchants will manage, the better 
the more they are left free to manage for themselves, and the 
general government may be reduced to a very simple organ- 
ization and a very inexpensive one. (To Gideon Granger, 
1800. F. VII., 451.) 

Statues. — A statue is not made, like a mountain, to be seen 
at a great distance. To perceive those minuter circumstances 
which constitute its beauty you must be near it, and, in that 
case, it should be so little above the size of the life as to appear 
actually of that size from your point of view. (Written from 
Paris to the Virginia delegates in Congress, 1784. F. IV., 74.) 

Subpoenas. — I did not see till last night the opinion of the 
judge on the subpoena duces tecum against the President. 
Considering the question there as coram non jiidice, I did not 
read his argument with much attention. Yet I saw readily 
enough, that, as is usual where an opinion is to be supported, 
right or wrong, he dwells much on smaller objections, and 
passes over those which are solid. Laying down the position 
generally, that all persons owe obedience to subpoenas, he 



400 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

admits no exception unless it can be produced in his law books. 
But if the Constitution enjoins on a particular officer to be 
always engaged in a particular set of duties imposed on him, 
does not this supersede the general law, subjecting him to 
minor duties inconsistent with these? The Constitution en^'oins 
his constant agency in the concerns of six million people. Is 
the law paramount to this, which calls on him in behalf of a 
single one? Let us apply the Judge's own doctrine to the case 
of himself and his brethren. The sheriff of Henrico summons 
him from the bench, to quell a riot somewhere in his county. 
The Federal Judge is, by the general law, a part of the posse 
of the State sheriff. Would the Judge abandon major duties 
to perform lesser ones? Again: the court of Orleans or Maine 
commands, by subpoenas, the attendance of all the Judges of 
the Supreme Court. Would they abandon their posts as Judges, 
and the interests of millions committed to them, to serve the 
purposes of a single individual? The leading principle of our 
Constitution is the independence of the legislature, executive 
and judiciary of each other, and none are more jealous of this 
than the judiciary. But would the executive be independent 
of the judiciary, if he were subject to the commands of the 
latter, and to imprisonment for disobedience; if the several 
courts could bandy him from pillar to post, keep him con- 
stantly trudging from north to south and east to west, and 
withdraw him entirely from his constitutional duties? The in- 
tention of the Constitution, that each branch should be inde- 
pendent of the others is further manifested by the means it has 
furnished to each, to protect itself from enterprises of force 
attempted on them by the others, and to none has it given more 
effectual or diversified means than to the executive. (To George 
Hay, 1807. C. v., 103.) 

Suffrage. — All male persons of full age and sane mind having 
a freehold estate in one-fourth of an acre of land in any town, 
or in territory five acres of land in the country and all persons 
resident in the colony who shall have paid scot and lot (taxes) 
to the government shall have right to give their vote in the 
election of their respective representatives. And every person 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 4OI 

SO qualified to elect shall be capable of being elected, provided 
he shall have given no bribe either directly or indirectly to any 
elector. (From a proposed Constitution for Virginia, 1776. F. 

n., 14.) 

Suffrage. — The majority of men in the State (Virginia) who 
pay and fight for its support, are unrepresented in the Legis- 
lature, the roll of freeholders entitled to vote not including 
generally the half of those on the roll of the militia. (From 
"Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 222.) 

Suffrage. — When the Constitution of Virginia was formed I 
was in attendance at Congress. Had I been here I should 
probably have proposed a general suffrage; because my opin- 
ion has always been in favor of it. Still I find very honest men, 
who thinking the possession of some property necessary to give 
due independence of mind are for restraining the elective fran- 
chise to property. I believe we may lessen the danger of buy- 
ing and selling votes by making the number of voters too great 
for any means of purchase. I may further say that I have not 
observed men's honesty to increase with their riches. (To 
Jeremiah Moor, 1800. F. VII., 454.) 

Suffrage. — However nature may by mental or physical dis- 
qualifications have marked infants and the weaker sex for the 
protection rather than the direction of government, yet 
among the men who either pay or fight for their country, no 
line of right can be drawn. The exclusion of a majority of our 
freerhen from the right of representation is merely arbitrary, 
and an usurpation of the minority over the majority; for it is 
believed that the non-freeholders compose the majority of our 
free and adult male citizens. (To J. H. Pleasants, 1824. C. VIL, 

345-) 

Supreme Court. — At length, then, we have a chance of get- 
ting a Republican (Democratic) majority in the Supreme Judi- 
ciary. For ten years has that branch braved the spirit and 
will of the nation after the nation had manifested its will by 
a complete reform in every branch depending on them. The 
event is a fortunate one and so timed as to be a God-send to 
me. I am sure its importance to the nation will be felt, and 



402 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the occasion employed to complete the great operation they 
have so long been executing by the appointment of a decided 
Republican with nothing equivocal about him. (To Albert 
Gallatin, 1810. C. V., 549.) 

Supreme Court. — It has long been my opinion, and I have 
never shrunk from its expression (although I do not choose 
to put it into a newspaper, nor like a Priam in armor, offer my- 
self its champion) that the germ of dissolution of our Federal 
Government is in the Constitution of the Federal Judiciary, 
an irrepressible body (for impeachment is scarcely a scare crow) 
working like gravity by night and day, gaining a little to-day 
and a little to-morrow, and advancing its noiseless steps like 
a thief over the field of jurisdiction until all shall be usurped 
from the States and the government of all be consolidated into 
one. To this I am opposed, because when all government, 
domestic and foreign, m little as in great things, shall be 
drawn to Washington as the centre of all power, it will render 
powerless the checks provided of one government on another 
and will become as venal and oppressive as the government 
from which it separated. It will be as in Europe, where every 
man must be pike or gudgeon, hammer or anvil. Our function- 
aries and theirs are wares from the same workshop; made of 
the same material and by the same hand. If the States look 
with apathy on this silent descent of their government into 
the gulf which is to swallow all, we have only to weep over 
the human character found uncontrollable but by a rod of iron 
and the blasphemers of man as incapable of self-government 
become his true historians. (To Mr. C. H. Hammond, 1821. 
C. VII., 216.) 

Supreme Court. — There is no danger I apprehend so much 
as the consolidation of our government by the noiseless and 
therefore unalarming instrumentality of the Supreme court. 
This is the form in which Federalism now arrays itself and 
consolidation is the present principle of distinction between 
Republicans and pseudo-Republicans, but real Federalists. I 
must comfort myself with the hope that the judges will see 
the importance and the duty of giving their country the only evi- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 403 

dence they can give of fidelity to its Constitution and integrity 
in the administration of its laws, that is to say, by every one's 
giving his opinion seriatim and publicly on the case he decides. 
Let him prove by his reasoning that he has read the papers, 
that he has considered the case, that in the application of the 
laws to it he uses his own judgment independently and unbiased 
by party views and personal favor or disfavor. Throw himself 
in every case on God and his country; both will excuse his 
error and value him for his loyalty. The very idea of cooking 
up opinions in conclave begets suspicions that something passes 
which fears the public ear and spreading by degrees must pro- 
duce at some time abridgment of tenure, facility of removal, 
or some modification which may promise a remedy. For in 
truth there is at this time more hostility to the Federal Judiciary 
than to any other organ of the government. (To Judge John- 
son, 1823. C. VII., 278.) 

Supreme Court. — See Judiciary, Federal. 

Talent. — Men possessing minds of the first order, whO' have 
had opportunities of being known and acquiring the general con- 
fidence, do not abound in any country beyond the wants of the 
country. (To Robert Livingston, 1801. F. VII., 492.) 

Taxation. — It is neither our wish nor our interest to separate 
from her (Great Britain). We are willing, on our part, to 
sacrifice everything which reason can ask to the restoration of 
that tranquillity for which all must wish. On their part, let them 
be ready to establish union on a generous plan. Let them 
name their terms, but let them be just. Accept of every com- 
mercial preference it is in our power to give for such things as 
we can raise for their use, or they make for ours. But let them 
not think to exclude us from going to other markets to dispose 
of those commodities which they cannot use, or to supply 
those w^ants wdiich they cannot supply. Still less let it be pro- 
posed that our properties within our own territories shall be 
taxed or regulated by any power on earth but our own. (From 
"A Summary View," 1774. F. I., 447.) 

Taxation. — But would it not be better to simplify the sys- 
tem of taxation rather than to spread it over such a variety 



'404 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

of subjects, and pass the money through so many hands? 
Taxes should be proportioned to what may be annually spared 
by the individual. * * * 'pj^g simplest system of taxation 
yet adopted is that of levying on the land and the laborer. 
But it would be better to levy the same sums on the produce 
of that labor when collected in the barn of the farmer; because 
then if through the badness of the year he made little, he would 
pay little. It would be better yet to levy it not in his hands, 
but in those of the merchant purchaser; because though the 
farmer would in fact pay it, as the merchant purchaser would 
deduct it from the original price of his produce, yet the farmer 
would not be sensible that he paid it. (Written from Paris to 
James Madison, 1784. F. IV., 16.) 

Taxation. — A proposition has been made to Congress to 
begin sinking the public debt by a tax on pleasure horses; that 
is to say, on all horses not employed for the dray, draught or 
farm. It is said there is not a horse of that description eastward 
of New York. And as to call this a direct tax would oblige 
them to proportion it among the States according to the cen- 
sus, they choose to class it among the indirect taxes. (To 
George Gilmer, 1792. F. VI., 146.) * * * It is uncertain 
what will be its fate. Besides its partiality, it is infinitely ob- 
jectionable as foisting in a direct tax under the name of an indi- 
rect one. (To T. M. Randolph, 1792. F. VI., 149.) 

Taxation. — I am conscious that an equal division of property 
is impracticable. But the consequences of enormous inequality 
producing so much misery to the bulk of mankind, legislators 
cannot invent too many devices for subdividing property, only 
taking care to let their subdivisions go hand in hand with the 
natural affections of the human mind. The descent of property 
of every kind therefore to all the children, or to all the brothers 
and sisters, or other relations in equal degree is a politic meas- 
ure, and a practicable one. Another means of silently lessening 
the inequality of property is to exempt all from taxation below 
a certain point and to tax the higher portions of property in 
geometrical progression as they rise. (To Rev. James Madi- 
son, 1795. F. VII., 35.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 405 

Taxation. — We are all the more reconciled to the tax on im- 
portations, because it falls exclusively on the rich, and with 
the equal partition of intestates' estates, constitute the best 
agrarian law. In fact, the poor man in this country who uses 
nothing but what is made within his own farm or family, or 
within the United States, pays not a farthing of tax to the gen- 
eral government, but on his salt; and should we go into that 
manufacture as we ought to do, we will not pay one cent. Our 
revenues once liberated by the discharge of the public debt, 
and its surplus applied to canals, roads, schools, etc., and the 
farmer will see his government supported, his children edu- 
cated, and the face of his country made a paradise by the con- 
tributions of the rich alone, without his being called on to 
spare a cent from his earnings. The path we are now pursuing 
leads directly to this end, which w^e cannot fail to attain unless 
our administration should fall into unwise hands, (To Dupont 
de Nemours, 181 1. C. V., 584.) 

Taxation. — When once a government has assumed its basis, 
to select and tax special articles from either of the other classes, 
is double taxation. For example, if the system be established 
on the basis of income, and its just proportion on that scale has 
been already drawn from every one, to step into the field of 
consumption, and tax special articles in that, as broadcloth 
or homespun, wine or whisky, a coach or a wagon, is doubly 
taxing the same article. For that portion of income tax, with 
which these articles are purchased, having already paid its tax 
as income, to pay another tax on the thing it purchased is 
paying twice for the same thing, it is an aggrievance on the 
citizens who use these articles in exoneration of those who do 
not, contrary to the most sacred of the duties of a government, 
to do equal and impartial justice to all its citizens. * * * 
Whether property alone, and the whole of what each citizen 
possesses, shall be subject to contribution, or only its surplus 
after satisfying his first wants, or whether the faculties of the 
body and mind shall contribute also from their annual earnings, 
is a question to be decided. But, when decided, and the prin- 
ciple settled, it is to be equally and fairly applied to all. To 



4o6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

take from one, because it is thought that his own industry and 
that of his father's has acquired too much, in order to spare to 
others, who, or whose fathers, have not exercised equal industry 
and skill, is to violate arbitrarily the first principle of association, 
"the guarantee to every one of a free exercise of his industry, 
and the fruits acquired by it." If the overgrown wealth of an 
individual be deemed dangerous to the State, the best corrective 
is the law of equal inheritance to all in equal degree; and the 
better, as this enforces a law of nature, while extra-taxation 
violates it. (To Joseph Milligan, 1816. C. VI., 574.) 

Taxation. — I rejoice, as a moralist, at the prospect of a reduc- 
tion of the duties on wine, by our National Legislature. It is an 
error to view a tax on that liquor as merely a tax on the rich. 
It is a prohibition of its use to the middling class of our citizens, 
and a condemnation of them to the poison of whisky, which is 
desolating their houses. No nation is drunken where wine is 
cheap, and none sober where the dearness of wine substitutes 
ardent spirits as the common beverage. It is, in truth, the only 
antidote to the bane of whisky. Fix but the duty at the rate of 
other merchandise, and we can drink wine here as cheap as 
we do grog; and who will not prefer it? Its extended use will 
carry health and comfort to a much enlarged circle. Every one 
in easy circumstances (as the bulk of our citizens are) will 
prefer it to the poison to which they are now driven by their 
government. And the treasury itself will find that a penny a 
piece from a dozen, is more than a groat from a single one. 
(To M. de Neuville, 1818. C. VII., no.) 

Tenure of Office. — This is a sample of the effects we may 
expect from the late mischievous law vacating every four years 
nearly all the executive offices of the government. It saps the 
constitutional and salutary functions of the President, and in- 
troduces a principle of intrigue and corruption which will soon 
leaven the mass not only of Senators but of citizens. It is more 
baneful than the attempt which failed at the beginning of the 
government to make all officers irremovable but with the con- 
sent of the Senate. This places every four years all appoint- 
ments under their power and even obliges them to act on every 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 437 

one nomination. It will keep in constant excitement all the 
hungry cormorants for office, render them as well as these in 
place sycophants to their Senators, engage these in eternal 
intrigue, to turn out one and put in another in cabals to swap 
with, and make of them what all executive directories become, 
mere sinks of corruption and faction. (To James Madison, 
1820. C. VII., 190.) 

Titles. — In America no other distinction betw^een man and 
man had ever been known, but that of persons in office exer- 
cising powers by authority of the laws, and private individuals. 
Among these last the poorest labci-er stood on equal ground 
with the wealthiest millionaire, and generally on a more favored 
one whenever their rights seem to jar. Of distinction by birth 
or badge they had no more idea than they had of the mode of 
existence in the moon or planets. They had heard only that 
there w'ere such, and they knew that they must be wrong. A 
due horror of the evils which flow from these distinctions could 
be excited in Europe only, where the human species is classed 
into several stages of degradation, where the many are crushed 
under the weight of the few, and where the order established 
can present to the contemplation of a thinking being no other 
picture than that of God Almighty and His angels trampling 
under foot the hosts of the damned. (From reflections on the 
order of the Cincinnati. 1786. F. IV.. 175.) 

Titles. — The new Government (of the United States) has 
ushered itself to the world as honest, masculine, and dignified. 
It has shown genuine dignity, in my opinion, in exploding 
adulatory titles; they are the offerings of abject baseness, and 
nourish that degrading vice in the people. (Written from Paris 
to James Madison, 1789. F. V., 112.) 

Tobacco. — It (tobacco) is a culture of infinite wretchedness. 
Those employed in it are in a continual state of exertion be- 
yond the power of nature to support. Little food of any kind 
is raised by them; so that the men and animals on these farms 
are illy fed, and the earth is rapidly impoverished. The culti- 
vation of w^heat is the reverse in every circumstance. Besides 
clothing the earth with herbage and preserving its fertility, it 



4o8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

feeds the laborers plentifully, requires from them only a moder- 
ate toil, except in the season of the harvest, raises great numbers 
of animals for food and service, and diffuses plenty and happi- 
ness among the whole. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. 
III., 271.) 

Toleration. — How far does the duty of toleration extend? 
First, no church is bound by the duty of toleration to retain 
within her bosom obstinate offenders against her laws. Second, 
we have no right to prejudice another in his civil enjoyments 
because he is of another church. If any man err from the right 
way, it is his own misfortune, no injury to thee; nor therefore 
art thou to punish him in the things of this life because thou 
supposeth he will be miserable in that which is to come. (From 
"Notes on Religion," 1776. F. II., 99.) 

Tories. — A Tory has been properly defined to be a traitor in 
thought, but not in deed. The only description by which laws 
have endeavored to come at them, was that of non-jurors, or 
persons refusing to take the oath of fidelity to the State. 
* * * It may be mentioned as a proof both of the lenity of 
our government, that though the war has now raged near 
seven years not a single execution for treason has taken place. 
(From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 260.) 

Townships. — No, my friend, the way to have good and safe 
government is not to trust it all to one, but to divide it among 
the many, distributing to every one exactly the functions he 
is competent to. Let the National Government be entrusted 
with the defense of the Nation and its foreign and Federal rela- 
tion; the State Governments with the civil rights, laws, police 
and administration of what concerns the State generally; the 
Counties with the local concerns of the Counties, and each ward 
(township) direct the interests within itself. It is by dividing 
and subdividing these republics from the great national one 
down through all its subordinations until it ends in the adminis- 
tration of every man's farm by himself; by placing under every 
one what his own eye may superintend, that all will be done 
for the best. What has destroyed liberty and the rights of man 
in every government which has ever existed under the sun? 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 409 

The generalizing and concentrating all cares and powers into 
one body, no matter whether of the autocrats of Russia or 
France or of the aristocrats of a Venetian Senate. I do believe 
that if the Almighty had not decreed that man shall never be 
free (and it is a blasphemy to believe it) that the secret will 
be found to be in the making himself the depository of the 
powers respecting himself, so far as he is competent to them, 
and delegating only what is beyond his competence by a syn- 
thetical process to higher and higher orders of functionaries 
so as to trust fewer and fewer powers in proportion as the 
trustees become more and more oligarchical. The elementary 
republics of the wards, the County republics, the State repub- 
lics and the republics of the Union would form a gradation of 
authorities standing each on the basis of law, holding every one 
its delegated share of powers, and constituting truly a system 
of fundamental balances and checks for the government. 
Where every man is a sharer in the direction of his ward re- 
public or of some of the higher ones, and feels that he is a 
participator in the government of affairs, not merely at an elec- 
tion one day in the year, but every day; when there shall not be 
a man in the State who will not be a member of some one of its 
councils, great or small, he will let the heart be torn out of his 
body sooner than his power be wrested from him by a Caesar 
or Bonaparte. How powerfully did we feel the energy of this 
organization in the case of the embargo? I felt the foundations 
of the government shaken under my feet by the New England 
townships. There was not an individual in their States whose 
body was not thrown with all its momentum into action; and 
although the whole of the other States were known to be in 
favor of the measure, yet the organization of this little selfish 
minority enabled it to overrule the Union. What would the 
unwieldly Counties of the middle, the south, and the west do? 
Call a County meeting and the drunken loungers at and about the 
court houses would have collected, the distances being too 
great for the good people and the industrious generally to at- 
tend. The character of those who really met would have been 
the measure of the weight they would have had in the scale of 



410 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

public opinion. As Cato, then, concluded every speech with 
the words, "Carthago dclenda est," so do I every opinion with 
the words, "Divide the Counties into wards." Begin then only 
for a single purpose; they will soon show for what others they 
are the best instruments. (To Jos. C. Cabell, 1816. C. VI., 

543-) 

Townships. — The article nearest my heart is the division of 
Counties into wards (townships). These will be pure and ele- 
mentary republics, compose the State, and will make of the 
whole a true Democracy as to the business of the wards, which 
is that of nearest and daily concern. The affairs of the larger 
sections, of Counties, of States, and of the Union, not admit- 
ting personal transaction by the people, will be delegated to 
agents elected by themselves; and representation will thus be 
substituted, where personal action becomes impracticable. Yet, 
even over these representative organs, should they become cor- 
rupt and perverted, the division into^ wards, a regularly organ- 
ized power, enables them by that organization to crush, regu- 
larly and peaceably, the usurpations of their unfaithful agents, 
and rescues them from the dreadful necessity of doing it in- 
surrectionally. In this way we shall be as republican as a large 
society can be; and secure the continuance of purity in our 
government, by the salutary, peaceable, and regular control of 
the people. (To Samuel Kercheval, 18 16. C. VII., 35.) 

Townships. — Divide the Counties into wards of such size as 
that every citizen can attend, when called on, and act in person. 
Ascribe to them the government of their wards in all things 
relating to themselves exclusively. A justice, chosen by them- 
selves, in each, a constable, a military company, a patrol, a 
school, the care of their own poor, their own portion of the 
public roads, the choice of one or more jurors to serve in some 
court, and the delivery, within their wards, of their own votes 
for all elective officers of higher sphere, will relieve the County 
administration of nearly all its business, will have it better done, 
and by making every citizen an acting member of the govern- 
ment, and in the offices nearest and most interesting to him, 
will attach him by his strongest feelings to the independence 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 411 

of his country, and its republican constitution. The justices 
thus chosen by every ward, would constitute the County court, 
would do its judiciary business, direct roads, and bridges, levy 
County and poor rates, and administer all the matters of com- 
mon interest to the wdiole country. These wards, called town- 
ships in New England, are the vital principle of their govern- 
ments, and have proved themselves the wisest invention ever 
devised by the wit of man for the perfect exercise of self-gov- 
ernment and for its preservation. We should thus marshal our 
government into, i, the general Federal republic, for all con- 
cerns foreign and Federal; 2, that of the State, for what relates 
to our own citizens exclusively; 3, the County republics, for 
the duties and concerns of the County; and, 4, the ward repub- 
lics, for the small, and yet numerous and interesting concerns 
of the neighborhood; and in government, as well as in every 
other business of life, it is by division of duties alone that all 
matters, great and small, can be managed to perfection. And 
the whole is cemented by giving to every citizen, personally, a 
part in the administration of the public affairs. (To Samuel 
Kercheval, 18 16. C. VIL, 12.) 

Townships. — Among other improvements, I hope they will 
adopt the subdivision of our Counties into wards. The former 
may be estimated at an average of twenty-four miles square; 
the latter should be aljout six miles square each, and would 
answer to the hundreds of your Saxon Alfred. In each of these 
might be, ist. An elementary school; 2d, A company of militia, 
with its officers; 3d, A justice of the peace and constable; 4th, 
Each ward should take care of their own poor; 5th, Tlieir owti 
roads; 6th, Their own police; 7th, Elect within themselves one 
or more jurors to attend the courts of justice; and, 8th, Give 
in at their Folk-house their votes for all functionaries reserved 
to their election. Each ward should thus be a small republic 
within itself, and every man in the State would thus become 
an acting member of the common government, transacting in 
person a great portion of its rights and duties, subordinate 
indeed, yet important, and entirely within his competence. The 
wit of man cauiiot devise a more solid basis for a free, durable 



412 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

ind well-administered republic. (To John Cartwright, 1824. 
C VIL, 357J 

Travel. — Traveling makes men wiser, but less happy. When 
men of sober age travel, they gather knowledge which they 
may apply usefully for their country, but they are subject ever 
after to recollections mixed with regret, their affections are 
weakened by being extended over more objects, and they learn 
new habits which cannot be gratified when they return home. 
(To Peter Carr, written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 433.) 

Treason. — Most codes do not distinguish between acts 
against the government and acts against the oppression of the 
government. The latter are virtues; yet have furnished more 
victims to the executioner than the former. The unsuccessful 
struggles against tyranny have been the chief martyrs against 
treason laws in all countries. We should not wish them to 
give up to the executioner the patriot who fails and flees to us. 
(From a report on Convention with Spain, 1792. F. V., 483.) 

Treaties. — We conceive the constitutional doctrine to be that 
though the President and the Senate have the general power 
of making treaties, yet whenever they include in a treaty mat- 
ters confided by the Constitution to the three branches of Leg- 
islature, an act of Legislature will be requisite to confirm these 
articles, and that of the House of Representatives as one branch 
of the Legislature are perfectly free to pass the act or refuse it, 
governing themselves by their own judgment whether it is for 
the good of their constituents to let the treaty go into effect or 
not. (To James Monroe, 1795. F. VIL, 67.) 

Treaties. — With respect to a commercial treaty with this 
country, be assured that the government not only has it not in 
contemplation at present to make any, but that they do not 
conceive that any circumstances will arise which shall render 
it expedient for them to have any political connection with 
us. They think we shall be glad of their commerce on their 
own terms. There is no party in our favor here, either in 
power or out of power. Even the opposition concurs with the 
ministry and the nation in this. (To R. H. Lee, written in 
London, 1786. F. IV., 206.) 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 413 

Treaties. — Randolph seems to have hit upon the true theory 
of our Constitution, that when a treaty is made, involving mat- 
ters confided by the Constitution to the three branches of the 
Legislature conjointly, the Representatives are as free as the 
President and Senate were to consider whether the national 
interest requires or forbids their giving the forms and force of 
law to the articles over which they have a power. (To William 
Giles, 1795. F. VII., 41.) 

Treaties. — We cannot too' distinctly detach ourselves from 
the European system, which is essentially belligerent, nor too 
sedulously cultivate an American system, essentially pacific. 
But if we go into commercial treaties at all, they should be 
with all, at the same time, with whom we have important com- 
mercial relations. France, Spain, Portugal, Holland, Den- 
mark, Sweden, Russia, all should proceed pari passu. Our min- 
isters marching in phalanx on the same line, and intercom.mun- 
icating freely, each will be supported by the weight of the whole 
mass, and the facility with which the other nations will agree 
to equal terms of intercourse, will discountenance the selfish 
higglings of England, or justify our rejection of them. Per- 
haps, with all of them, it would be best to have but the single 
article gcntis amicissimae, leaving everything else to the usages 
and courtesies of civilized nations. (To James Madison, 1814. 

C VI., 453-) 

Truth. — Truth will do well enough if left to shift for herself. 
She seldom has received much aid from the power of great men 
to whom she is rarely known and seldom welcome. She has 
no need of force to procure entrance into the minds of men. 
Error indeed has often prevailed by the assistance of power or 
force. Truth is the proper md sufBcient antagonist to error. 
(From "Notes on Religion," 1776. F. II., 102 

Truth. — Truth is great and will prevail if left to herself; she is 
the proper and sufficient antagonist to error, and has nothing 
to fear from the conflict unless by human interposition dis- 
armed of her natural weapons — free argument and debate; error 
ceasing to be dangerous when it is permitted freely to contra- 



414 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

diet them. (From a bill for establishing religious freedom, 
1779. F. II., 239.) 

Truth. — Teach her (Martha's sister) to be always true; no 
vice is so mean as the want of truth, as at the same time so 
useless. Teach her above all things to be good, because with- 
out that we can neither be valued by others nor set any value 
upon ourselves. If ever you find yourself in difficulty, and 
doubt how to extricate yourself, do what is right, and you will 
find it is the easiest w^ay of getting out of a difficulty. (To 
Martha Jefferson, 1787. F. IV., 375.) 

Tyranny. — Human nature is the same on every side of the 
Atlantic, and will be alike influenced by the same causes. The 
time to guard against corruption and tyranny is before they 
have gotten hold of us. It is better to keep the wolf out of 
the fold than to trust to drawing his teeth and talons after he 
shall have entered. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. 
HI., 225.) 

Tyranny of Man. — I am convinced that those societies (as 
the Indians) which have been without government enjoy in 
their general mass an infinitely greater degree of happiness than 
those who live under the European Governments. Among 
the former, public opinion is in the place of law, and restrains 
morals as powerfully as laws ever did anywhere. Among the 
latter, under the pretence of governing, they have divided 
their nations into two classes, wolves and sheep. I do not ex- 
aggerate. This is a true picture of Europe. Cherish therefore 
the spirit of our people and keep alive their attention. Do not 
be too severe upon their errors, but reclaim them by enlighten- 
ing them. If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, 
you and I and Congress and Assemblies, judges and governors 
shall all become wolves. It seems to me the law of our gen- 
eral nature, in spite of individual exceptions, and experience 
declares that man is the only animal which devours his own 
kind, for I can apply no milder term toi the governments of 
Europe, and to the general prey of the rich or the poor. (To 
Edward Carrington, written in Paris, 1787. F. IV., 360.) 

Uniformity. — Truth can stand by itself. Subject opinion to 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 415 

coercion: whom will you make your inquisitors? Fallible 
men; men governed by bad passions, by private as well as pub- 
lic reasons. And why subject it to coercion? To produce 
uniformity. But is uniformity of opinion desirable? No more 
than of face and stature. * * * Difference in opinion is 
advantageous in religion. The several sects perform the of^ce 
of a censor over each other. Is uniformity attainable? Mil- 
lions of innocent men, women and children, since the intro- 
duction of Christianity have been burnt, tortured, fined, 
imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uni- 
formity. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. F. III., 265.) 

Union. — We are now represented in General Congress by 
members approved by this House where the former union, it 
is hoped, will be so strongly cemented that no partial applica- 
tions can produce the slightest departure from the common 
cause. We consider ourselves as bound in honor, as well as 
interest, to share one general fate with our sister colonies; and 
should hold ourselves base deserters of that union to which 
we have acceded, were we to agree on any measure distinct and 
apart from them. (From an address to Governor Dunmore, 
of Virginia, 1775. F. I., 458.) 

Union. — I learn from our delegates that the Confederation is 
again on the carpet, a great and a necessary wish, but I fear 
almost desperate. The point of representation is what most 
alarms me, as I fear the great and the small colonies are bit- 
terly determined not to cede (yield). Will you be so good as to 
collect the former proposition I made you in private and try if 
you can work it into some good to serve our Union. (To John 
Adams, 1777. F. II., 130.) 

Union. — The interests of the States ought to be made joint 
in every possible instance in order to cultivate the idea of our 
being one nation, and to multiply the instances in which the 
people shall look up to Congress as their head. (To James 
Monroe, written from Paris, 1785. F. IV., 52.) 

Union. — We shall never give up our Union, the last anchor 
of our hope, and that alone which is to prevent this heavenly 
country from becoming an arena of gladiators. Much as I 



4l6 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

abhor war, and view it as the greatest revenge of mankind, and 
anxiously as I wish to keep out of the broils of Europe, I 
w^ould yet go with my brethren into these rather than separate 
from them. (To Elbridge Gerry, 1797. F. VII., 122.) 

Union. — I sincerely wish that the whole Union may accom- 
modate their interests to each other and play into their hands 
mutually as members of the same family, that the wealth and 
strength of any one part should be viewed as the wealth and 
strength of the whole. (Hugh Williamson, 1798. F. VII., 201.) 

Union. — The last hope of human liberty in this world rests 
on us. We ought, for so dear a state, to sacrifice every at- 
tachment and every enmity. Leave the President free to choose 
his own coadjutors, to pursue his own measures, and support 
him and them, even if we think we are wiser than they, honester 
than they are, or possessing more enlarged information of the 
state of things. If we move in mass, be it ever so circuitously, 
we shall attain our object; but if we break into squads, every 
one pursuing the path he thinks most direct, we become an 
easy conquest to those who can now barely hold us in check. 
I repeat again that we ought not to schismatize on either man or 
measures. Principles alone can justify that. If we find gov- 
ernment in all its branches rushing headlong, like our predeces- 
sors, into the arms of monarchy; if we find them violating our 
dearest rights, the trial by jury, the freedom of the press, the 
freedom of opinion, civil or rehgious, or opening on our peace 
of mind or personal safety the sluices of terrorism; if we see 
them raising standing armies, when the absence of all other 
danger points to these as the sole objects on which they are 
employed, then indeed let us withdraw and call the nation to 
its tents. But while our functionaries are wise, and honest, 
and vigilant, let us move compactly under their guidance, and 
we have nothing to fear. Things may here and there go a little 
wrong. It is not in their power to prevent it, but all will 
be right in the end, though not perhaps by the shortest means. 
(To WiUiam Duane, 181 1. C. V., 577.) 

Unitarianism. — No historical fact is better established than 
that the doctrine of one God, pure and uncompounded, was that 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 417 

of the early ages of Christianity ; and was among the efficacious 
doctrines which gave it triumph over the polytheism of the 
ancients, sickened with the absurdities of their own theology. 
Nor was the unity of the Supreme Being ousted from the Chris- 
tian creed by the force of reason, but by the sword of Civil 
Government, wielded at the will of the fanatic Athanasius. The 
hocus-pocus phantasm of a God like another Cerberus, with 
one body and three heads, had its birth and growth in the blood 
of thousands and thousands of martyrs. And a strong proof 
of the solidity of the primitive faith is its restoration as soon 
as a nation arises which vindicates to itself the freedom of re- 
ligious opinion and its external divorce from the civil authority. 
The pure and simple unity of the Creator of the universe is 
now all but ascendent in the eastern States; it is dawning in 
the west, and advancing toward the south; and I confidently 
expect that the present generation will see Unitarianism be- 
come the general religion of the United States. (To James 
Smith, 1822. C. VII., 269.) 

University of Virginia. — We wish to establish in the upper 
and healthier country and more centrally for the State an uni- 
versity on a plan so broad and liberal and modern as to be worth 
patronizing with the public support, and be a temptation to 
the youth of other States to come and drink of the cup of knowl- 
edge and fraternize with us. The first step is to obtain a good 
plan; that is a judicious selection of the sciences and a practic- 
able grouping of them together. * * * j ^yjn venture to 
sketch the sciences which seem useful and practicable for us. 
as they occur to me while holding my pen. Botany, Chemistry, 
Zoology, Anatomy, Surgery, Medicine, Natural Philosophy, 
Agriculture, Mathematics, Astronomy, Geology, Geography, 
Politics, Commerce, History, Ethics, Law, Arts, Fine Arts. 
This list is imperfect because I make it hastily, and because 
I am unequal to the subject. It is evident that some of these 
articles are too much for one professor and must therefore be 
ramified ; others may be ascribed in groups to a single professor, 
(To Joseph Priestly, 1800. F. VII., 407.) 

University of Virginia. — To these particular services, I think 



4l8 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

I might add the establishment of our University, as principally 
my work, acknowledging at the same time, as I do, the great 
assistance received from my able colleagues of the Visitation. 
But my residence in the vicinity threw, of course, on me the 
chief burthen of the enterprise, as well of the buildings as of the 
general organization and care of the whole. The effect of this 
institution on the future fame, fortune and prosperity of our 
country can as yet be seen but at a distance. But an hundred 
well-educated youths, which it will turn out annually, and ere 
long, will fill its offices with men of superior qualifications, and 
raise it from its humble state tO' an eminence among its asso- 
ciates which it has never yet known; no, not in its brightest 
days. That institution is now qualified to raise its youth to an 
order of science unequalled in any other State; and this super- 
iority will be the greater from the free range of mind encour- 
aged there, and the restraint imposed at other seminaries by the 
shackles of a domineering hierarchy, and a bigoted adhesion 
to ancient habits. Those now on the theatre of affairs will enjoy 
the ineffable happiness of seeing- themselves succeeded by sons 
of a grade of science beyond their own ken. Our sister States 
will also be repairing to the same fountains of instruction, will 
bring hither their genius to be kindled at our fire, and will carry 
back the fraternal affections which, nourished by the same ahna 
mater, will knit us tO' them by the indissoluble bonds of early 
personal friendships. The good Old Dominion, the blessed 
mother of us all, will then raise her head with pride among the 
nations, will present to them that splendor of genius which she 
has ever possessed, but has too long suffered to rest unculti- 
vated and unknown, and will become a centre of ralliance to the 
States whose youth she has instructed, and, as it were, adopted. 
(1826. C. IX., 509.) 

Vice-Presidency. — The idea that I would accept the ofBce of 
President but not that of Vice-President of the United States 
had not its origin with me. I never thought of questioning 
the free exercise of the right of my fellow citizens to marshal 
those whom they call into their service according to their fit- 
ness, nor ever presumed that they were not the best judges of 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 419 

these. Had I inclnlg-cd in a wish in what manner they should 
dispose of me, it would precisely have coincided with what they 
have done. (To James Sullivan, 1797. F, VII., 116.) 

Vice-Presidency. — I thank you for your congratulation on 
the public call on me to undertake the second ofifice in the 
United States, but still more for the justice you do me in viev.-- 
ing as I do the escape from the first; I have no wish to meddle 
again in public affairs, being happier at home than I can be 
anywhere else. Still less do I wish to engage in an ofifice where 
it would be impossible to satisfy either friends or foes. If I am 
to act, however, a more tranquil and unoffending station could 
not have been found for me, no one so analogous to the dispo- 
sitions of my mind. It will give me philosophical evenings in 
the winter and rural days in summer. (To Benjamin Rush, 
1797. F. VII., 114.) 

Vice-President. — As to duty, the Constitution will know mie 
(as Vice-President) only as the member of a Legislative body; 
and its principle is that of a separation of Legislative, Executive 
and Judiciary functions, except in cases specified. If this prin- 
ciple be not expressed in direct terms, yet it is clearly the spirit 
of the Constitution, and it ought to be so commented and acted 
on by every friend of free government. (To James IMadison, 
1797. F. VII., 108.) 

War. — I do not recollect in all the animal kingdom a single 
species but man which is eternally and systematically engaged 
in the destruction of its own species. What is called civilization 
seems to have no other effect on him than to teach him to pur- 
sue the principle of helium omnium in omnia on a larger scale, 
and, in place of the little contests of tribe against tribe, to en- 
gage all the quarters of the earth in the same work of destruc- 
tion. When we add to this that as the other species of animals 
the lions and tigers are mere lambs compared with man as a 
destroyer, we must conclude that it is in man alone that nature 
has been able to find a sufficient barrier against the too great 
nullification of other animals and of man himself, an equilibrat- 
ing power against the fecundity of generation. (To James ^Mad- 
ison, 1797. F. VII., 100.) 



420 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

War. — We had reposed great confidence in that provision 
of the Constitution which requires two-thirds of the Legislature 
to declare war. Yet it may be entirely eluded by a majority's 
taking such measures as will bring on war. (To James Monroe, 
1798. F. VII., 222.) 

War. — Wars must sometimes be our lot, and all the wise can 
do will be to avoid that half of them which would be produced 
by our own follies and our own acts of injustice; and to make 
for the other half the best preparations we can. Of what nature 
should these be? A land army would be useless for offense, 
and not the best nor safest instrument of defense. For either 
of these purposes, the sea is the field on which we should meet 
an European enemy. On that element it is necessary we should 
possess some power. To aim at such a navy as the greater na- 
tions of Europe possess would be a foolish and wicked waste 
of the energies of our countrymen. It would be to pull on our 
own heads that load of military expense which makes the Eu- 
ropean laborer go supperless to bed, and moistens his bread 
with the sweat of his brows. (From "Notes on Virginia," 1782. 
F. III., 280.) 

War. — Were armies to be raised whenever a speck of war 
is visible in our horizon, we never should have been without 
them. Our resources would have been exhausted on dangers 
which have never happened, instead of being reserved for what 
is really to take place. A steady, perhaps a quickened pace 
in preparations for the defense of our seaport towns and waters; 
an early settlement of the most exposed and vulnerable parts 
of our country; a militia so organized that its effective portions 
can be called to any point in the Union, or volunteers instead 
of them to serve a sufficient time, are means which may always 
be ready yet never preying on our resources until actually 
called into use. They will maintain the public interests while a 
more permanent force shall be in course of preparation. But 
much will depend on the promptitude with which these means 
can be brought into activity. If war be forced upon us in spite 
of our long and vain appeals to the justice of nations, rapid 
and vigorous movements in its outset will go far towards se- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 42 1 

curing us in its course and issue, and towards throv;ing its bur- 
dens on those who rendei' necessary the resort from reason to 
force. (Sixth Annual Message, 1806. F. VIII., 495.) 

War. — "Is it common for a nation to obtain a redress of 
wrongs by war?" The answer to this question you will, of 
course, draw from history. In the meantime, reason will ans- 
wer it on the grounds of probability, that when the wrong has 
been done by a w'eaker nation the stronger one has generally 
been able to enforce redress ; but w'here by a stronger nation, re- 
dress by war has been neither obtained nor expected by the 
weaker. On the contrary, the loss has been increased by the ex- 
penses of the war in blood and treasure. Yet it may have 
obtained another object equally securing itself from future 
wrong. It may have retaliated on the aggressor losses of blood 
and treasure far beyond the value to him of the wrong he had 
committed and thus have made the advantage of that too dear 
a purchase to leave him in a disposition to renew the wrong in 
future. In this way, the loss by the \var may have secured the 
weaker nation from loss by future wrong. (To Rev, Mr. Wor- 
cester, 1816. C. VI., 539.) 

Washington. — There was nobody so well qualified as yourself 
to put our new machine into a regular course of action, nobody 
the authority of whose name could have so effectually curbed 
opposition at home, and produce respect abroad. I am sensible 
of the immensity of the sacrifice on your part. Your measure 
of fame was full to the brim; and therefore, you have nothing 
to gain. But there are cases wherein it is a duty to risk all 
against nothing, and I believe this was exactly the case. (To 
Washington, from Paris, 1789. F. V., 95.) 

Washington. — It is fortunate that our first Executive Magis- 
trate is purely and zealously Republican. We cannot expect 
all his successors to be so, and therefore should avail ourselves 
the present day to establish principles and examples which may 
fence us against future heresies preached now, to be practiced 
hereafter. (To Harry Innes. 1791. F. V., 300.) 

Washington. — There is sometimes an eminence of character 
on which society have such peculiar claims as to control the 



422 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

predilection of the individual for a particular walk of happiness 
and restrain him to that alone arising from the present and fu- 
ture benedictions of mankind. This seems to be your condition, 
and the law imposed on you by Providence in forming your 
character, and fashioning the events on which it was to operate; 
and it is motions like these that I appeal from your former de- 
termination (of refusing a second term) and urge a revisal of it, 
on the ground of a change in the aspect of things. (To Wash- 
ington, 1792. F. VI., 6.) 

Washington. — It was impossible the bank and paper-mania 
should not produce great and extensive ruin. The President 
is fortunate to get off just as the bubble is bursting, leaving 
others to hold the bag, yet on his departure will mark the mo- 
ment when the difficulties begin to work; you will see that they 
will be ascribed to the new administration and that he will have 
his usual good fortune of reaping credit from the good acts of 
others, and leaving to them that of his errors. ( To James Madi- 
son, 1797. F. VII., 104.) 

Washington. — Such is the popularity of the President that 
the people will support him in whatever he will do or not do> 
without appealing to their own reason or to anything but their 
feelings toward him. His mind has been so long used to unlim- 
ited applause that it could not brook contradiction, or even 
advice offered unasked. To advice when asked he is very open. 
I have long thought therefore it was best for the Republican 
interest to soothe him by flattering when they could approve 
his measures, and to be silent where they disapprove. * * * 
I think it is best to leave him to his own movements, and not 
risk the ruffling them by what he might deem an improper in- 
terference with the constituted authorities. (To Archibald Stu- 
art, 1797. F. VII., 102.) 

Washington. — I think I knew General Washington inti- 
mately and thoroughly; and were I called to delineate his char- 
acter, it should be in terms like these: 

His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very 
first order; his penetration strong, though not sO' acute as that 
of a Newton, Bacon, or Locke; and as far as he saw, no judg- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 423 

ment was ever sounder. It was slow in operation, being little 
aided by invention or imagination, but sure in conclusion. 
Hence the common remark of his officers, of the advantage he 
derived from councils of war, where hearing all suggestions, 
he selected whatever was best; and certainly no General ever 
planned the battles more judiciously. But if deranged during 
the course of action, if any member of his plan was dislocated 
by sudden circumstances, he was slow in re-adjustment. The 
consequence was, that he often failed in the field, and rarely 
against an enemy in station, as at Boston and York. He 
was incapable of fear, meeting personal dangers with the calm- 
est unconcern. Perhaps the strongest feature in his character 
was prudence, never acting until every circumstance, every con- 
sideration, was maturely weighed; refraining if he saw a doubt, 
but when once decided, going through with his purpose, what- 
ever obstacle opposed. His integrity was most pure, his justice 
the most inflexible I have ever known, no motives of interest 
or consanguinity, of friendship or hatred, being able to bias 
his decision. He was, indeed, in every sense of the word, a wise, 
a good, and a great man. His temper was naturally irritable 
and high toned; but reflection and resolution had obtained a 
firm and habitual ascendency over it. If ever, however, it broke 
its bonds, he was most tremendous in his wrath. In his ex- 
penses he was honorable, but exact; but frowning and unyield- 
ing on all visionary projects and all unworthy calls on his 
charity. His heart was not warm in its affections; but he ex- 
actly calculated every man's value and gave him a solid esteem 
proportioned to it. His person, you know, was fine, his stature 
exactly what one would wish, his deportment easy, erect and 
noble; the best horseman of his age, and the most graceful 
figure that could be seen on horseback. Although in the circle 
of his friends, where he might be unreserved with safety, he 
took a free share in conversation, his colloquial talents Vv'ere not 
above mediocrity, possessing neither copiousness of ideas, nor 
fluency of words. In public, when called on for a sudden opin- 
ion, he was unready, short, and embarrassed. Yet he wrote 
readilv, rather dififuselv, in an easv and correct stvle. This he 



424 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

had acquired by conversation with the world, for his education 
was merely reading, writing and common arithmetic, to which 
he added surveying at a later day. His time was employed in 
action chiefly, reading little, and that only in agriculture and 
English history. His correspondence became necessarily ex- 
tensive, and, with journalizing his agricultural proceedings, oc- 
cupied most of his leisure hours within doors. On the whole, 
his character was, in its mass, perfect, in nothing bad, in few 
points indifferent; and it may truly be said, that never did na- 
ture and fortune combine more perfectly to make a man great, 
and to place him in the same constellation with whatever 
worthies have merited from man an everlasting remembrance. 
For his was the singular destiny and merit, of leading the armies 
of his country successfully through an arduous war, for the 
establishment of its independence; of conducting its councils 
through the birth of a Government, new in its forms and prin- 
ciples, until it had settled down into a quiet and orderly train; 
and of scrupulously obeying the laws through the whole of his 
career, civil and military, of which the history of the world fur- 
nishes no other example. 

How, then, can it be perilous for you to take such a man on 
your shoulders? I am satisfied the great body of Republicans 
think of him as I do. We were, indeed, dissatisfied with him 
on his ratification of the British treaty. But this was short lived. 
We knew his honesty, the wiles Vv^ith which he was encom- 
passed, and that age had already begun to relax the firmness 
of his purposes; and I am convinced he is more deeply seated 
in the love and gratitude of the Republicans, than in the Phar- 
isaical homage of the Federal monarchists. For he was no 
monarchist from preference of his judgment. The soundness 
of that gave him correct views of the rights of man, and his 
severe justice devoted him to them. He has often declared 
to me that he considered our new Constitution as an experi- 
ment on the practicability of Republican Government, and with 
what dose of hberty man could be trusted for his own good; 
that he was determined the experiment should have a fair trial, 
and would lose the last drop of his blood in support of it. And 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 425 

these declarations he repeated to me the oftener and more 
pointedly, because he knew my suspicions of Colonel Hamil- 
ton's views, and probably had heard from him the same declar- 
ations which I had, to wit, "that the British Constitution, with 
its unequal representation, corruption and other existing abuses 
M'ould make it an impracticable government." I do believe 
that General Washington had not a firm confidence in the dura- 
bility of our government. He was naturally distrustful of men, 
and inclined to gloomy apprehensions; and I was ever per- 
suaded that a belief that we must at length end in something 
like a British Constitution, had some weight in his adoption 
of the ceremonies of levees, birthdays, pompous meetings with 
Congress, and other forms of the same character, calculated to 
prepare us gradually for a change which he believed possible, 
and to let it come on with as little shock as might be to the 
public mind. 

These are my opinions of General Washington, which I 
would vouch at the judgment seat of God, having been formed 
on an acquaintance of thirty years. I served with him in the 
Virginia Legislature from 1769 to the Revolutionary War, and 
again, a short time in Congress, until he left us to take com- 
mand of the army. During the war and after it we corresponded 
occasionally, and in the four years of my continuance in the 
office of Secretary of State, our intercourse was daily, confiden- 
tial and cordial. After I retired from that office, great and ma- 
lignant pains were taken by our Federal monarchists, and not 
entirely without effect, to make him view me as a theorist, hold- 
ing French principles of government, w^hich would lead infal- 
libly to licentiousness and anarchy. And to this he listened 
the more easily, from my known disapprobation of the British 
treaty. I never saw him afterwards, or these malignant insinu- 
ations should have been dissipated before his just judgment, 
as mists before the sun. I felt on his death, with my country- 
men, that "verily a great man hath fallen this day in Israel." 

Washington. — You expected to discover the difference of 
our party principles in General Washington's valedictory and 
mv inausrural address. Not at all. General Washington did not 



426 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

harbor one principle of Federalism. He was neither an Anglo- 
man, a monarchist, nor a separatist. He sincerely wished the 
people to have as much self-government as they were com- 
petent to exercise themselves. The only point on which he 
and I ever differed in opinion was that I had more confidence 
than he had in the natural integrity and discretion of the people, 
and in the safety and extent to which they might trust them- 
selves with a control over their government. He has expressed 
to me a thousand times his determination that the existing gov- 
ernment should have a fair trial and that in support of it, he 
would spend the last drop of his blood. (To Mr. Melish, 1813. 
C. VL, 97-) 

Whigs and Tories. — The Hartford Convention, the victory 
of Orleans, the peace of Ghent, prostrated the name of Fed- 
eralism. Its votaries abandoned it through shame and mortifi- 
cation; and now call themselves Republicans. But the name 
alone is changed, the principles are the same. For in truth 
the parties of Whig and Tory are those of nature. They exist 
in all countries, whether called by these names or by those of 
Aristocrats and Democrats, Cote Droite and Cote Gauche, Ul- 
tras and Radicals, Seroiles and Liberals. The sickly, weakly, 
timid man fears the people, and is a Tory by nature. The 
healthy, strong and bold cherishes them and is formed a Whig 
by nature. (To Marquis de LaFayette, 1823. C. VH., 324.) 

Whisky. — Considering it only as a fiscal measure, this was 
right. But the prostration of body and mind which the cheap- 
ness of this liquor is spreading through the mass of our citizens, 
now calls the attention of the legislator on a very different 
principle. One of his important duties is as guardian of those 
who from causes susceptible of precise definition, cannot take 
care of themselves. Such are infants, maniacs, gamblers, drunk- 
ards. The last as much as the maniac, requires restrictive 
measures to save him from the fatal infatuation under which 
he is destroying his health, his morals, his famil)^, and his use- 
fulness to society. One powerful obstacle to his ruinous self- 
indulgence would be a price beyond his competence. As a 
sanatory measure, therefore, it becomes one of duty in the pub- 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 427 

lie guardians. Yet I do not think it follows that imported 
spirits should be subjected to similar enhancement until they 
become as cheap as they are made at home. A tax on whisky 
is to discourage its consumption; a tax on foreign spirits en- 
courages whisky by removing its rival from competition. The 
price and present duty throw foreign spirits already out of 
competition with whisky, and accordingly they are used but 
to a salutary extent. You see no persons besotting themselves 
with imported spirits, wines and liquors, cordials, etc. Whisky 
claims to itself alone the exclusive office of sot-making. For- 
eign spirits, wines, teas, coffee, sugars, salt, are articles of as 
innocent consumption as broadcloths and silks; and ought like 
them, to pay but the average ad valorem duty of other im- 
portant comforts. (To Samuel Smith, 1823. C. VII., 285.) 

Woman. — But our good ladies, I trust have been too wise 
to wrinkle their foreheads with politics. They are contented 
to soothe and calm the minds of their husbands returning ruf- 
fled from political debate. They have the good sense to value 
domestic happiness above all others, and the art to cultivate 
it above all others. There is no part of the earth where as 
much of this is enjoyed as in America. Recollect the women 
of this capital, some on foot, some on horses, and some in car- 
riages hunting pleasure in the streets, in routs and assemblies, 
and forgetting what they have left behind them in their nur- 
series; compare them with our own countrywomen occupied in 
the tender and tranquil amusements of domestic life, and con- 
fess that it is a comparison of Americans and Angels. (To Mrs. 
William Bingham, written in Paris, 1788. F. V., 9.) 



APOTHEGMS. 



(The following pithy sentiments are found scattered through 
the writings of Jefferson in passages not otherwise significant 
and therefore not included in the main body of the Writings.) 

I. 

Conscience is the only clue that will eternally guide a man 
clear of all doubts and inconsistencies. 

2. 

Under difficulties I have ever found one and only one rule, 
to do what is right, and generally we shall disentangle ourselves 
almost without perceiving how it happened. 

3. 

To contribute by neighborly intercourse and attention to 
make others happy is the shortest and surest way of being happy 
ourselves. 

4. 
I have ever deemed it more honorable and profitable, too, 
to set a good example than to follow a bad one. 

5- 
I never consider a difference of opinion in politics, in rehgion, 
in philosophy, as cause for withdrawing from a friend. 

6. 

Foreign relations are the province of the Federal Govern- 
ment; domestic regulations and institutions belong in every 
State to itself. 

7. 
Of all the duties imposed on the executive head of a gov- 
ernment, appointment to office is the most difficult and most 

irksome. 

429 



430 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

8. 

In a government bottomed on the will of all, the life and 
liberty of every individual citizen becomes interesting to all. 

9- 
The government which can wield the arm of the people must 
be the strongest possible. 

10. 

History in general only informs us what bad government is. 

II. 

Nothing can establish firmly the Republican principles of our 
government but an establishment of them in England. 

12. 

The duty of an upright administration is to pursue its course 
steadily, to know nothing of these family (party) dissensions 
and to cherish the good principles of both parties. 

13- 
Where an office is local we never go out of the limits for the 
officers. 

14. 
It will be forever seen that of bodies of men even elected by 
the people, there will always be a greater proportion aristo^ 
cratic than among their constituents. 

15- 
A merchant is naturally a Republican [Democrat] and can be 
otherwise only from a vitiated state of things. 

16. 
The happiness of society depends so much on preventing 
party spirit from infecting the common intercourse of life that 
■nothing should be spared to harmonize and amalgamate the 
parties in social circles. 

17- 
The Presidency is the only office in the world about which I 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 43I 

am unable to decide in my own mind whether I had rather 
have it or not have it. 

18. 

I am no behever in the amalgamation of parties, nor do I 
consider it as either desirable or useful to the public. 

19. 

It is necessary to give as well as take in a government like 
ours. 

20. 

It accords with our principles to acknowledge any govern- 
ment to be rightful w^hich is formed by the will of the nation 
substantially declared. 

21. 

A nation as a society forms a moral person, and every mem- 
ber of it is personally responsible for his society. 

22. 

The spirit of this country is totally adverse to a large military. 

23. 

Wars and contentions indeed fill the pages of histor\^ with 
more matter. But more blest is that nation whose silent course 
of happiness furnishes nothing for history to say. 

24. 
For a people who are free and who mean to remain so, a 
well-organized and armed militia is their best security. 

25. 
Peace and friendship with all mankind Is the wisest policy. 

26. 
If there be one principle more deeply rooted than any other 
in the mind of every American, it is that we should have nothing- 
to do with conquest. 

27. 

I wish we could distribute our four hundred monocrats among 



432 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

the Indians who would teach them lessons of liberty and 
equality. 

28. 

We are not expected to be translated from despotism to lib- 
erty in a feather bed. 

29. 
The boisterous sea of liberty is never without a wave. 

30. 
Our citizens may be deceived for a while and have been 
deceived; but as long as the press can be protected we trust 
them for light. 

31. 
The newspapers are the first of all human contrivances for 
generating war. 

32. 

Letters are not the first but the last steps in the progression 
from barbarism to civilization. 

33- 
Men are disposed to live honestly if the means of doing so are 
open to them. 

34. 
Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom. 

35. 
I place economy among the first' and most important of 
Republican virtues, and public debt as the greatest of the 
dangers to be feared. 

36. 
There is a debt of service due from every man to his country, 
proportioned to the bounties which nature and fortune have 
measured on him. 

37. 
I am not one of those who fear the people. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 433 

38. 
In most countries a fixed quantity of wheat is perhaps the 
best permanent standard of value. 

39. 
The English would not lose the sale of a bale of furs for 
the freedom of the whole world. 

40. 
I have made it a rule never to engage in a lottery or any 
other adventure of mere chance. 

41. 
The purse of the people is the real seat of sensibility. 

42. 
I have ever found in my progress through life, that acting for 
the public if we always do what is right, the approbation denied 
in the beginning will surely follow in the end. 

43- 
What all agree in is probably right; what no two agree in 
is most probably wrong. 

44. 
If we are to dream, the flatteries of hoj>e are as cheap and 
pleasanter than the gloom of despair. 

45- 
I have never believed there was one code of morality for a 
public and another for a private man. 

46. 
Had there never been a commentator there never would have 
been an infidel. 

47. 
Had the doctrines of Jesus been preached always as pure as 
they came from his lips, the whole civilized world would now 
have been Christian. 

48. 

Whatever be the degree of talent it is no measure of right; 



434 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

because Sir Isaac Newton was superior to others in under- 
standing, he was not therefore lord of the person or property 
of others. 

49. 
The English never made an equal commercial treaty with any 
nation, and we have no right to expect to be the first. 

50. 
Money and not morality is the principle of commerce and 
commercial nations. 

51. 
My idea is that we should encourage home manufactures to 
the extent of our own consumption of every thing of which we 
raise the raw material. 

52. 
Never fear the want of business. A man who qualifies him- 
self well for his calling never fails of employment in it. 

53. 
A tour (term) of duty, in whatever line he can be most useful 
to his country, is due from every individual. 

54. 
I have never conceived that having been in public life re- 
quires me to belie my sentiments or even to conceal them 

55- 
I have but one system of ethics for men and for nations — 
to be grateful, to be faithful to all engagements, and, under all 
circumstances, to be open and generous. 

56. 
Matrimony illy agrees with study, especially in the first stages 
of both. 

57. 
To most minds exile is next to death; to many beyond it. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 435 

58. 
The only reward I ever wished on my retirement was to carr}' 
with me nothing like a disapprobation of the public. 

59. 
If some termination of the service of the chief magistrate be 
not fixed by the Constitution, his ofRce will become for life. 

60. 
The main objects of all science are the freedom and happiness 
of man, 

61. 
To be really useful we must keep pace with the state of 
society and not dishearten if by attempts at what its population, 
means, or occupations will fail in attempting. 

62. 
The information of the people at large can alone make them 
the safe, as they are the sole, depository of our religious and 
political freedom. 

63. 
There are two subjects which I shall claim a right to further 
as long as I have breath, the public education and the sub- 
division of the counties into wards (townships). I consider 
the continuance of Republican government as absolutely hang- 
ing on these two hooks. 

64. 

A Republican government is slow to move, yet when once in 
motion its momentum becomes irresistible. 

65- 
The equal rights of man and the happiness of every individual 
are the only legitimate objects of government. 

66. 

We may still believe with security that the great body of 
American people must for ages yet be substantially Republican. 



436 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

67. 
Opinion and the just maintenance of it shall never be a crime 
in my view; nor bring injury on the individual. 

68. 
I think all the world would gain by setting commerce at 
perfect freedom. 

69. 
I had ever fondly cherished the interests of the West, relying 
on it as a barrier against the degeneracy of public opinion 
from our original and free principles. 

70. 
Neither natural right nor reason subjects the body of a man 
to restraint for debt. 

71. 
I know of no safe depository of the ultimate powers of society 
but the people themselves. 

72. 

My principle is to do whatever is right and leave the conse- 
quences to Him who has the disposal of them. 

7Z 
No man on earth has stronger detestation of the unprincipled 
tyrant Bonaparte than myself. 

74- 
Nothing betrays imbecility so much as being insensible of it. 

75- 
I find friendship to be like wine, raw when new, ripened with 
age, the true old man's milk and restorative cordial. 

76. 
I never yet saw a native American begging in the streets or 
highways, 

77- 
The appointment of a woman to office is an innovation for 
which the public is not prepared, nor am I. 



OF THOMAS JEFFERSON 437 

78 
I hope and firmly believe that the whole world will sooner 
or later feel benefit from the issue of our assertions of the 
rights of man. 

79- 
The will of the majority honestly expressed should give law. 

80. 

I find that he is happiest of whom the world says least, good 
or bad. 

81. 

Our first and fundamental maxim should be never to entangle 
ourselves in the toils of Europe. Our second, never to sufifer 
Europe to intermeddle with cis-Atlantic afifairs. 

82. 

No government can be maintained without the principle of 
fear as well as of duty. Good men will obey the last, but bad 
ones the. former only. 

83. 
Having seen the people of all other nations bow down to the 
earth under the wars and prodigalities of their rulers, I have 
cherished the opposites, peace, economy, and riddance of the 
public debt. 

84. 

I have no fear but that the result of our experiment will be 
that men may be trusted to govern themselves without a master. 

85- 
To inform the minds of the people and to follow their will 
is the chief duty of those placed at their head. 

86. 
I have such reliance on the good sense of the body of the 
people and the honesty of their leaders that I am not afraid 
of their letting things go wrong to any length in any cause. 



438 THE LIFE AND WRITINGS 

87. 
We wish not to meddle with the internal affairs of any coun- 
try. Peace with all nations and the right which that peace 
gives us with respect to all nations, are our object. 

88 
I have no inclination to govern men. 

89. 
It is incumbent on every generation to pay its own debt 
as it goes. 

90. 
It ought to be supplicated from heaven by the prayers of the 
whole world that at length there may be on earth peace and 
good will toward men. 



INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.} 

A 

ACADEMY, NATIONAL, 

proposed, 133, 
ADAMS, JOHN, 

his estimate of Jefferson, 13. 

on committee with Jefferson, 14. 

on committee to draft Declaration of Independence, 17. 

with Jefferson in France, 34. 

elected President. 66. 

overtures to Jefferson, 67. 

threatens France, 68. 

changes policy towards France, 77. 

reconciliation with Jefferson, 121. 

dies on the day on which Jefferson dies, 132. 

his vanity and honesty, 133. 

his unrepublicanism, 133. 

felicitations and esteem for. 134. 

contrasted with Plamilton, 239. 

a friend of monarchy, 307. 
ADAMS, JOHN, MRS., 

condoles with Jefferson, 100. 
ADAMS, SAMUEL, 

a tried republican, 134. 

the patriarch of liberty, 134. 

estimate of, 134. 
AFFLICTION, 

all forms of experienced, 135. 
AGRICULTURE, 

the noblest occupation, 135, 

the hope of the State, 136. 

the most desirable occupation, 137. 

produces the best citizens, 137. 

the best basis of prosperity, 137. 

its limit, 301. 
ALBEMARLE RESOLUTIONS, 

drawn by Jefferson, 12. 
ALIEN 

after expatriation, 213. 

439 



440 INDEX. 

[References are to Paget.'] 
ALIEN ACT, 

passed, 72. 

injurious to Federalist party, 78. 

declared void, 285. 

ALIEN AND SEDITION LAWS, 137, 138. 

ALLIANCES, 

danger of foreign, 138, 

AMBASSADORS, 

President to decide their grade and where they should be sent, 138. 
salaries of, 375. 

AMBITION, 

eradicated, 369. 

AMENDMENT TO CONSTITUTION, 
method of, 138. 

AMERICA, 

not dependent upon Britain, 256. 
the guide to other nations, 366. 

ANARCHY, 

English reports of, 139. 
"ANAS," 

Jefferson's purpose in writing, 43. 
ANIMALS, 

the law of their growth, 139. 
APOCALYPSE, 

opinion of, 139. 
APPOINTMENT TO OFFICE, 322-325, 429. 
APPROBATION, 140, 250, 433. 
ARISTOCRACY, 

false, 140. 

of talent, 141, 

its evil effect, 141, 

would be extended by order of the Cincinnati, 154. 

reluctant to abandon monarchy, 306. 

ARMS, 

coat of, 142. 

right of freemen to bear. 142. 

for American States, 192. 
ARMY, 

standing, a menace, 348. 
ARNOLD, BENEDICT, 

invades Virginia, 29. 

ARTISANS, 

dangerous to liberty, 137. 



INDEX. 441 

[References are to Pages,^ 



ARTS, 

tend to degrade, 136. 
ASSEMBLY, 

members of should have their expenses paid, 213. 
ASSUMPTION, 

Jefferson's connection with, 142. 
ATHEISM, 

Jefferson charged with, 143. 



BANKS, 

their function, 144. 
danger of, 146. 

BANK, THE NATIONAL, 

an offspring of assumption, 143. 
opposed by Jefferson, 144. 
opinion concerning, 145. 
increased circulation, 146. 
reasons for opposing, 179. 

BARLOW, JOEL, 

recommended to Washington, 231. 

RELIEF, RELIGIOUS, 

cannot be compelled, 359. 
BIBLE, 

in the schools, 195. 

BILL OF RIGHTS, 

the people entitled to, 169. 

BI-METALISM, 147. 

BISHOPS, 

description of a modern, 148. 

BLACKSTONE, 

his influence, 303. 

BLOCKADE, 

when lawful, 148. 
BOLINGBROKE AND PAINE, 328. 
BONAPARTE, 

able to hold France together, 148. 

incapable of governing rightly, 149. 

his declaration for royalty, 149. 

character of, 149. 

detestation for, 436. 
BORROWING POWER, 

Ehould be taken from the general government, 329. 



442 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.'\ 
BOTETOURT, LORD, 

dissolves the House of Burgesses, 10. 

BOUNTIES, 

not to be granted by Congress, 149. 

BRIBERY, 

a disqualification for office, 150. 
of Indians, 263. 
disqualifies for office, 401. 

BRITAIN, 

as an ally, 150. 

BUBBLES, 

bank and other, 150. 

BURR, AARON, 

ties Jefferson in Electoral College, 82. 

kills Hamilton, 105. 

forms a conspiracy, 105-107. 

arrested for conspiracy, 108. 

flees abroad, 112. 



CALUMNY, 151, 218. 

CANADA, 

cession of, 151. 
CAPITAL PUNISHMENT, 

the last resource, 184. 
CAPITAL CITY. 

its situation a compromise, 143. 
CAPTIVES, 

treatment of in modern times, 152. 
CARY, ARCHIBALD, 

reports a resolution favoring independence, 16. 
CENTRALIZATION. 

dangerous effects of. 399. 
CHALLENGER IN A DUEL, 

punishment of, 193. 
CHARITY, 

method of bestowing, 152. 
CHASE, SAMUEL, 

impeachment and trial of. 100, 101. 
CHATHAM, LORD. 

his bill, 356. 
CHESAPEAKE, 

fired upon by the Leopard, 113. 



INDEX. 443 

[References arc to Pages^l 



CHRISTIANITY, 
view of, 152. 
Jefferson's belief in, 153. 
its perversion, 153. 
remarks upon, 153. 

CHURCH AND STATE, 
separation of, 154. 

CHURCH, 

free church in a free State, 358. 

CINCINNATI, ORDER OF, 
dangers of, 154. 

members espouse monarchy, 307. 
fond of titles, 407. 

CITIES, 

corruption of, 136. 
dangers of. 154. 

CITIZENSHIP, 

test of good, 155. 

educational qualification for, 155. 

after expatriation, 213. 

of the Indians, 263. 

of annexed territory, 300. 

CIVIL POWER, 

superior to military, 155. 

CIVIL RIGHTS, 

not related to religious opinions, 156. 

CIVIL SERVICE. 

tenure of office in, 156. 
CIVILIZATION, 

accompanied by war, 419. 
CLARK, GEORGE ROGERS, 

captures Col. Hamilton, 28. 

CLASSICS, 

utility of, 156. 
CLERGY, 

right to hold office, 157. 

no mercy expected from, 158. 

privilege of, 293. 
CLINTON, GEORGE, 

Republican candidate for Vice-President. 100. 

COERCION, 

in matters of opinion, 415. 
COMMENTARIES, 433. 



444 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.} 
COLLEGES, 

proposed system of, 158. 

COLONIES, 

instruments for increase of commerce, 159. 
treatment of by George III., 231. 
independent of Parliament, 256. 
united by ties of honor, 415. 

COMMERCE, 

not our policy, 136. 

preferable to manufacturing, 137. 

freedom in, 159. 

the spirit of the age, 159. 

with England, 159. 

regulation of by States, 159. 

to be regulated by Congress, 160. 

policy respecting, 162. 

internal, 162. 

its limit, 301, 

impossible without navy, 316. 

freedom with all nations, 348. 

reciprocity in, 355. 

COMMON LAW, 

in Federal courts, 162. 

COMPROMISE, 163, 431. 

COMPULSION, 

in religion, 357. 

CONDUCT, 

canons of, 151. 
advice as to. 180. 

CONFEDERACIES, 

possibilities of two, 163. 

CONFEDERATION, 
powers of, 163. 
a perfect instrument, 164. 
its power to compel a State, 164. 
despair of accomplishing, 415. 

CONFIDENCE, 

the parent of despotism, 164. 

CONGRESS, 

its power to negative a State law, 165. 
(Continental) can entertain proposition of peace, 165. 
sovereignty of, 391. 
the head of the nation, 391. 



INDEX. 445 

[References are to Pages.'] 
CONGRESSMEN. 

election of, 201. 

residence of, 369. 
CONNECTICUT, 

its people, 372. 
CONQUEST, 431. 
CONSCIENCE, 

a part of man, 312. . 

rights of, 359, 429. /"^ 

CONSERVATISM, 435. 

CONSPIRACY OF AARON BURR, 105-107. 

CONSTITUTION, 

favored by Jefferson, 37. 

meaning of the word, 167. 

should provide a distribution of power, 168. 

its good and bad features, 168. 

Jefferson's neutrality toward, 169. 

Jefferson upon prospect of its adoption, 170. 

obtained without bloodshed, 170. 

its wisdom, 170. 

construction of, 171, 267. 

the best under the sun, 172. 

CONSTITUTIONS, 

made for the living, 173, 174. 
should not be perpetual, 175. 
written, 176. 

CONSTITUTIONALITY OF THE LAW, 174. 

CONSULS, 

their rank, 176. 

qualifications of, 176. , 

CONTEMPTS, 

fines and imprisonment for, 281. 

CONTRABANDS, 

should not exist, 177. 

CONTROVERSY, 

to be avoided, 177. 

COOPER, THOMAS, 

consulted as to course of study for University of Virginia, 124. 
Professor of Chemistry in University of Virginia, 127. 

CORNWALLIS, LORD, 

harries the South, 27. 
plunders Virginia, 29. 
destroys Jefferson's property, 31. .,^.^ 



446 INDEX, 

[References are to PagesJ] 
CORPORATIONS, 

a menace^ 179. 

not to be chartered by general government, 179. 

chartered by Congress, 179. 
CORRESPONDENCE, 

between citizens a natural right, 179. 
CORRUPTION. 

how to prevent, 414. 
COUNSEL, 

to his daughter, ISO, 181. 

to nephew, 180. 

to a young man, 182. 

to the Indians, 264. 
COURTS OF EQUITY, 208. 
COURTS, 

danger from Federal, 398. See Judiciary Supreme Court. 
CREATION, 

theory concerning, 182. 
CREDIT, 

an evil, 182. 

the abolition of, 182. 
CREED, 

political, 257. 
CRIMES, 

punishment varies, 183. 

punishment in proportion to, 184. 

act for punishment of, 381. 
CRIMINALS, 

deportation of, 184. 

reformation of, 184. 
CUBA, 

annexation of. 185. 

independence of, 185. 

an occasion for war, 185. 
CURRICULUM, 

for Grammar Schools, 194. 

for a University, 417. 

D 

DAVEISS, 

attorney against Burr, 105, 107. 

DEBT, 

the power of the living to contract, 186. 

a curse, 432. 

to be paid as it is contracted, 438. 



INDEX. 447 

[References are to Pages.} 
DEBT, NATIONAL, 

not a blessing, 186. 
sacredness of. 187. 
doctrine concerning, 187, 188. 
term of redemption, 187. 
opposition to, 348. 

DEBTORS, 

fugitive, trial of, 230. 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, see Independence. 

DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE, 
Jefferson's political creed, 257. 

DELAWARE, 

a Quaker State, 354. 

DEMOCRACY, 

the safest form of government, 190. 
its slowness, 190. 
features of, 191. 
representative, 191. 

DEPARTMENTS OF GOVERNMENT, 168. 
to be kept separate, 233. 

DERNAH, 

captured by Gen. Eaton, 102. 

DESCENTS, 

act to change course of, 381. 

DEVICE FOR AMERICAN STATES, 192. 

DICKINSON, JOHN, 

too conservative for Jefferson, 13. 

DIFFICULTIES, 

how to solve, 429. 
DIPLOMATIC SERVICE, 

rotation in, 373. 
DISPENSATION, 

power of, 293. 
DISSENSION, POLITICAL, 

a necessity, 192. 
DISSENSIONS, 

among Christians, 358. 
DISSOLUTION, 

of Great Britain impending, 236. 

of representative bodies, 365. 

DISUNION, 

danger of threatened, 192. 



44^ INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.^ 

DOUGLAS, REV. WM., 

tutor of Jefferson, 3. 

DRUNKENNESS IN AMERICA, 193. 

DUELLING, 

punishment for, 193. 

DUTIES. 

on imported books, 193. 

E 

EATON, GENERAL, 

captures Dernah, 102. 
approved by Burr, 106. 

ECONOMY, 

in public expenditure, 193. 
a blessing, 432. 

EDUCATION, 

universal advocated, 25. 

collegiate, 194. 

secondary, 194. 

should be at the public expense, 195. 

the place of the classics in, 195. 

in Europe, 196. 

of youths of genius, 196. 

of youths in Europe, 196. 

of the masses, 197. 

a course of higher study proposed, 198. 

of the common people, 198. 

Jefferson's solicitude for, 198. 

general scheme of, 199. 

the hope of the world, 199. 

the foe of tyranny, 242. 

value of languages in, 293. 

diffusion of, 382. 

curriculum for University, 417. 

of the people, 435. 

and townships, 435. 

ELECTIONS, 

annual, 134. 
of President, 200. 
intermeddling with, 200. 
interference in by officers, 200. 
of Congressmen, 201. 
interference with, 336. 



INDEX. 449 

[References are to Pages."] 

EMBARGO, 

laid by Jefferson, 114. 
effects of, 115, 201. 

EMANCIPATION, 

favored by Jefferson, 25. 
favored, 201. 
obstacles to, 383. 
prophesied, 383. 

EMPIRE, 

the British falling asunder, 356. 

ENGLAND, 

as an ally, 150. 

her avarice, 159. 

our enemy, 202. 

compared with France, 202. 

the natural enemy of America, 203. 

her dominion of the ocean, 205 

Jefferson not an enemy of, 206. 

should be a friend of America, 207. 

claims upon America compared with those of France, 217. 

ENGLISH, 

character of, 207. 

ENTAILS, 

abolished in Virginia, 22. 
abolition of. 381. 

ENTANGLEMENTS, 

with foreign nations, 215. 

EPICURES AND JESUS, 207-208. 
EQUITY COURTS, 

should be distinct from courts of law, 208. 

ETHICS, 

for man and nations, 434. 

ETIQUETTE, 

official rules, 208. 

EXAMPLE, 429. 

EXECUTIVE, 

advantages of a single, 209. 
independence of, 210. 
sphere of, 378. 

EXERCISE, 

rules for, 211. 
walking the best, 242. 



450 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages."] 
EXILE, 434. 

EXPANSION, 

power of Congress in reference to, 211. 

happy effects of, 211. 

principle, 102. 

limit of, 252. 

in the case of Louisiana, 300. 

EXPATRIATION, 
views on, 212. 
right of, 213, 381. 

EXPENSES, 

of members of General Assembly, 213. 

P 

FARMERS, 

their dignity, 213. 

the true representatives of American interests, 214. 

FARMING, 

Jefferson's only occupation, 214. 

FAUQUIER, FRANCIS, 

a friend of Jefferson, 5. 

FEDERAL, JUDICIARY, 272-281. 
and the common law, 162. 
appeal to from State court, 165. 

FEDERALIST, THE, 

the best commentary on government, 214. 

FEDERALISTS, 
pure, 332. 

FENNO, 

editor of the Gazette of the United States, 45. 

FICTION, 215. 

FINANCES OF HAMILTON, 241. 

FOREIGN EDUCATION OF YOUTH, 196. 

FOREIGN ENTANGLEMENTS, 215, 349, 437. 

FOREIGN MINISTERS, 

limited term of office. 216. 

FRANCE, 

not a serious nation, 216. 
Jefferson's love for, 216. 
congratulations upon its freedom, 216. 
her claims upon America, 217. 



INDEX. 451 

[References are to Pagcs.l 
[FRANKLIN, BENJAMIN, 

serves on committee with Jefferson. 14. 

appointed to act with French envoy, 16. 

on committee to draft Declaration of Independence, 17. 

sent as ambassador to France, 20. 

esteem for, 217. 
[FREEDOM, 

great cost of, 366. 

United States the guardian of, 218. 
FREEDOM OF THE PRESS, 218, 249. 
FREEDOM OF RELIGIOUS BELIEF, 232, 358, 363. 
FREE GOODS WITH FREE SHIPS, 219. 
FREE TRADE, 159. 
FRENCH REVOLUTION, 

progress of, 220. 

wrought by public opinion, 220. 

sketch of its development, 221-223. 

interest of Jefferson, 224. 

its issue, 224. 

sympathy with, 225. 

represented by the Jacobins, 226. 

its influence in the United States, 227. 

its reception in Philadelphia, 227. 

sympathy with, 227, 228. 

its errors, 228. 

well wisher of, 349. 
FRENEAU, PHILIP, 

a clerk in the office of Jefferson, 44. 

editor of National Gazette, 45. 

supports the side of France, 51. 

his newspaper, 229. 

as a man of genius, 231. 
FRIENDSHIP, 

the pleasure of, 229. 

influence of public life upon, 230. 

grades of, 436. 
FRUGALITY IN GOVERNMENT, 348. 

FUGITIVE DEBTORS, 

extradition and trial of, 230. 

G 

GALLATIN, ALBERT, 

Secretary of Treasury under Jefferson, 86. 
GAMING, 

a miserable resource, 266. 



452 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.l 
GENET, 

lands in Charleston, 51. 

arrives in Philadelphia, 51. 

commissions the Little Democrat, 52. 

recalled, 54. 

his malign influence, 230. 

GENIUS, 

among the poorer classes, 196. 

should be rewarded by government, 231. 

GEORGE III., 

tyranny of, 155. 

epitome of his reign, 231. 

the American Messiah, 232. 

treatment of the colonies during his reign, 231. 

appealed to, 231. 

an officer of the people, 231. 

his treatment of colonies, 258-261. 

ignores petitions, 339. 

his plans against liberty, 371. 

GERRY, ELBRIDGE, 

early friend of Jefferson, 7. 
envoy to France, 70. 
recalled from France, 72. 

GOOD HUMOR, 232. 
GOLD, 

its ratio to silver, 309. 

GOVERNMENT, 

function of, 232. 

has no control over opinion, 232. 

degeneracy of, 233. 

energy of, 233. 

three branches of, 233. 

its blessing questioned, 233. 

its true purpose, 234. 

true principles of, 234. - - 

its rights over individuals, 234. 

ours the best, 235. 

moral principles of, 235. 

essential principles of, 248. 

by the majority, 379. 

right of people to form, 391. 
GRAMMAR SCHOOLS, 

curriculum of, 194. 
GRAND JURIES, 

constitutional inquisitors, 236. 



INDEX. 453 

[References are to Pages.} 



GREAT BRITAIN, 

impending dissolution of, 236. 
GREEK AND LATIN 

utility of, 156. 
GREEK, 

to be taught in Grammar Schools, 195. 
GRIEF, 

uselessness of^ 236. 

H 

HABEAS CORPUS, 

writ of, 236. 

its suspension questioned, 237, 
HABITS OF JEFFERSON, 237. 
HAMILTON, COLONEL, 

captured by Clark, 28. 
HAMILTON, ALEXANDER, 

in cabinet with Jefferson, 42. 

quarrels with Jefferson, 45. 

attitude towards Whisky Rebellion, 61. 

defends Jay's treaty, 63. 

made Inspector General, 71. 

supports Jefferson for President, 81. 

killed by Burr, 105. 

a monarchist, 238. 

his system disapproved of, 239. 

desires respecting the Constitution, 239, 240. 

his newspaper squabbling, 240. 

his supreme talents, 241. 

his accounts hard to understand, 241. 

his complicated system, 241. 

his defense of Jay's Treaty, 269. 

ardent for a Monarchy, 307, 308. 
HAPPINESS OF HOME, 243. 

how to secure, 429. 
HARRISON, BENJAMIN, 

on a committee with Jefferson, 12. 
HATRED OF ENGLAND FOR AMERICA, 203. 
HAY, GEORGE, 

prosecutes Burr, 108. 
HEALTH, 

more valuable than knowledge, 242. 

preferable to all things, 242. 
HEAVEN, 

different paths to, 357. 



454 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.'] 
HENRY, PATRICK, 

with Jefferson in Virginia Legislature, 9. 
colleague of Jefferson in Virginia Convention, 11. 
eloquence of, 12. 

HISTORY, 

knowledge of helpful to citizenship, 242. 
not a difficult study, 243. 
the writing of, 243. 

HOME, 

happiness of, 243. 

HOMER, 243. 

HONESTY, 

the wise policy, 432. 

HUME, 

his influence, 303. 

HYPOCRISY, 

fostered by religious restraint, 359. 



IDLENESS, 

its baleful effects, 266, 

IMMIGRATION, 

dangers of, 243. 

IMMORTALITY, 

anticipations of, 244. 

IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES, 272, 279. 

IMPRESSMENT, 

of American sailors, 244. 
protection of seamen from, 245. 
an American grievance, 245. 

IMPROVEMENTS, 
internal, 251. 

INAUGURAL, 

to General Assembly of Virginia, 140. 

first address, 245. 
second, 250. 

INCOME TAX, 405. 

INDUSTRY, 

the secret of happiness, 266. 
effect of slavery upon, 384. 



INDEX. 455 

^References are to Pages.^ 



INDEPENDENCE, 

the sentiment for, 257. 

sentiment for in Virginia, 256. 

early declaration of, 256. 

not desired in 1776, 263. 

declaration of (text), 257. 

declaration written by Jefferson, 17. 

opinions concerning declaration, 19. 
INDIANS, 

Jefferson's concern for, 252. 

to be paid for their lands, 263. 

protection of, 263. 

bribery of, 263. 

their laws, 263. 

should become citizens, 263. 

plans for civilizing, 264. 

counsel to, 264. 

during war, 265. 
INHERITANCES, 

Congress cannot regulate, 266. 

should be divided equally, 404. 
INTELLECT, 

pleasures of, 341. 
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 267. 
INTOLERANCE, POLITICAL, 247. 
INSURRECTIONS, 267. 
INVENTIONS, 

rights of inventors to, 268. 
INVENTORS, 

right of, 335. 

J 

JACOBINS, 

true representatives of French Revolution, 226. 

sympathy with, 226. 

ruined by their own power, 269. 
JAY, JOHN, 

envoy to France, 16. 

makes treaty with England, 62. 
JAY'S TREATY, 

its unpopularity, 269. 

Jefferson opposes, 269. 

dissatisfaction with, 269. 
JEALOUSY, 

free government founded on, 165. 



45^ INDEX. 

[References are to Pages."] 

JEFFERSON, PETER, 

father of Thomas, 3. 
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, 

birth and ancestry, 3. 

early education, 3. 

college career, 4, 

youthful habits, 5. 

companions while at college, 5. 

reads law, 6. 

a diligent scholar, 6. 

in love, 6. 

admitted to the bar, 7. 

journey northward, 7. 

inheritance, 7. 

a scientific farmer, 8. 

a lawyer, 8. 

elected to House of Burgesses, 9. 

works for emancipation of slaves, 10. 

home destroyed by fire, 10. 

marries Martha Skelton, 10. 

writes "Summary View," 11. 

placed on the committee of defense, 12. 

goes to Congress instead of Peyton Randolph, 12. 

replies to Lord North's "Conciliatory Proposition," 13. 

a man of the world, 13. 

gives way to Dickinson, 13. 

brought to the front by his pen, 14. 

elected to Congress a second time, 14. 

champion of religious liberty, 15. 

loses his second child, 15. 

denies the right of Great Britain to legislate for America, 15. 

appointed to act with French envoy, 16. 

writes the Declaration of Independence, 18. 

outlines a Constitution for Virginia, 20. 

appointed ambassador to France — refuses, 20. 

begins his labors as a law reformer, 21. 

abolishes entails, 22. 

makes naturalization easy, 23. 

works for religious liberty, 23. 

favors emancipation, 24. 

advocates universal education, 25. 

labors on the revision of the laws of Virginia, 25. 

elected Governor of Virginia, 26. 

secures Northwest Territory for Virginia, 28. 

energy displayed during the invasion of Virginia, 29. 

declines third term as Governor, 30. 

escapes from Monticello, 31. 



INDEX. 457 

{References are to Pages.} 
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Cont'd, 
hatred for Cornwallis, 31. 
actions as Governor vindicated, 32. 
grief for death of wife, 32. 

appointed second time as Minister to France, 32. 
active service in Congress, 33. 

draws up a plan for the government of Northwest Territory, 33. 
proposes a plan for coinage, 34. 
Minister to France, 34. 
publishes "Notes on Virginia," 35. 
efforts in behalf of American commerce, 35. 
visits England, 35. 
resents Algerine outrages, 36. 
favors new Constitution, 37. 
conduct as a diplomat, 39. 
gives advice to Lafayette, 38. 
leaves France for America, 41. 
made Secretary of State, 41. 
contrasted with Hamilton, 42. 
author of the "Anas/' 43. 
attacked by Hamilton, 45. 

reports as Secretary of State concerning Spain, France and Eng- 
land, 47. 
friendship for France, 49. 
correspondence with Genet, 52. 
remains neutral in the French trouble, 53. 
manages Genet with skill, 54. 
resigns the secretaryship, 56. 
retires to Monticello, 57. 
domestic life at Monticello, 57. 
farming operations, 58, 59. 
invents mould-boards of least resistance, 60. 
sympathizes with Whisky Rebellion, 61. 
opinion concerning Jay's treaty, 62. 
criticises Jay's treaty, 63. 
candidate for President, 64. 
chosen Vice-President, 66. 
resides in Philadelphia, 66. 
receives overtures from Adams, 67. 
presiding officer of Senate, 69. 
compiles Manual of Parliamentary Laws, 69. 
anxious for the Democratic party, 70. 
draws Kentucky Resolutions, 75. 
joins the Revolutionary movement, 78. 
again candidate for President, 79. 
conducts a quiet campaign, 79. 
elected President, 82. 



45S 



INDEX. 



[References arc to Pages."] 
JEFFERSON, THOMAS, Cont'd. 

aroused by contest for Presidency, 82, 
bids the Senate farewell, 83. 
circumstances of inauguration, 85. 
» chooses cabinet, 86. 

regards his election as the beginning of a new era, 87. 
. refuses to make party spoils of the offices, 87. 
sends his message to Congress instead of delivering it orally, 89. 
has the Judiciary Act repealed, 90. 
takes steps to secure control of Mississippi, 91. 
plays politics in the Louisiana matter, 93. 
assents to the purchase of Louisiana, 97. 
renominated for President, 100. 
re-elected, 101. 

delivers his second inaugural, 101. 
conciliates Bonaparte, 103. 
ignores Burr's movements, 108. 
quarrels with Marshall, 112. 

orders British vessels to leave American waters, 113. 
animosity to Marshall, 110. 
lays embargo, 114. 
chooses Madison as successor, 116. 
last retirement, 117. 
writes many letters, 119. 

President of American Philosophic Society, 119. 
domestic life in old age, 120. 
reconciliation with John Adams, 121. 
interest in the war of 1812, 122. 
changes views as to manufactures, 123. 
begins plans for University of Virginia, 124. 
sells his library to Congress, 125. 
curtails correspondence, 126. 
first rector of University of Virginia, 127, 
engages in the work of the University, 129. 
financial difiiculties, 130. 

tries to save his property by a lottery scheme, 131. 
taken ill and dies, 132. 

JESUS, 

the doctrines of, 270. 

perversion of the doctrines of, 271. 

moral precepts of, 312. 

mission of, 358. 

his place in history, 359. 

and Epicurus, 207. 

JUDGES, 

removal from office, 272. 



ixDEX. 459 

[References are to PagesJ] 



JUDGES, Cont'd. 

qualifications for, 272. 
length of term of office, 2S2. 

JUDICIARY, 

independence of, 233, 272, 273. 

JUDICIARY, FEDERAL, 272-281. 
danger from, 280. 
its sphere, 378. 

JURIES, 

as judges of fact, 281. 

their importance to liberty, 282. 

JURY, 

classes of cases tried by, 281. 
trial defended, 286. 

JUSTICE, 

a branch of sovereignty, 282. 

K 

KENTUCKY RESOLUTIONS (test), 282. 

drawn by Jefferson, 74. 
KING, RUFUS, 

federalist candidate for Vice-President, 100. 
KINGS, 

a sorry lot, 290 

servants of the people, 290. 

the common sense of, 291. 

executive power of, 354. 
KINGS, NOBLES AND PRIESTS, 140. 
KNOWLEDGE, 

of less value than health, 242. 
KNOX, JOHN, 

submits to Hamilton, 50. 

made Major General, 71. 
KOSCIUSKO, 

a pure son of liberty, 291. 

L 

LABORERS, 

members of the Democratic party, 331. 

LAFAYETTE, 

receives advice from Jefferson, 38. 
exhorted to declare for the people, 291. 



4^0 INDEX. 

[References are to PageM.i 
LAND, 

natural appropriation of, 186. 
title to, 292. 
allotment of. 292. 
a common stock, 292. 
the tax upon, 404. 

LAND-HOLDERS, 

members of the Democratic party, 331. 

LANDS, PUBLIC, 

to be purchased from Indians, 263. 
appropriation of, 292. 

LANGUAGES, 196, 292. 

LATIN, 

to be taught in Grammar Schools, 195. 
utility of, 156. 

LAW, 

spirit of, 395. 

LAW OF NATIONS, 219. 

LAW CONNECTED WITH POLITICS, 293. 

LAWS, 

evil of retrospective, 294. 

the instability of, 294. 

when changeable, 294. 

sanguinary, 293. 

should not be perpetual, 175. 
LAWYERS AND LIBERTY, 302. 
LAWYERS OF NEW ENGLAND, 294. 
LEANDER, 

fires upon American vessel, 104. 

LEE, R. H., 

serves on committee with Jefferson, 12. 

moves independence, 16. 
LEGISLATURE, 

should have two or three branches, 233. 

independence of, 233. 

should not interfere in foreign affairs, 295. 

dissolution of, 391. 
LEGISLATURES, 

to be chosen by lot, 295. 

tyranny of, 295. 
LEOPARD ATTACKS CHESAPEAKE, 113. 

LESLIE, GENERAL. 

invades Virginia, 28. 



INDEX. 461 

[Referenets are to Pages."] 



LIBELS, 

punishment of, 254. 
prosecution for, 296. 

LIBERTY, 

indissoluble from life, 296. 

a gift of God, 296. 

accompanied by turbulence, 296. 

its slow growth, 297. 

nourished by rebellion, 354. 

how acquired, 432. 
LIBRARY, 

public, of Richmond, 297. 
LIBRARIES FOR EVERY COUNTY, 297. 
LINCOLN, LEVI, 

Attorney-General in Jefferson's cabinet, 86. 

LIVINGSTON, R. R., 

services concerning Louisiana purchase, 90. 

conducts the Louisiana matter, 93. 

closes Louisiana purchase, 95. 
LONDON, 

Jefferson's dislike for, 216. 
LOTTERY, 433. 
LOUISIANA, 

the retrocession of, 92. 

purchased from France, 95. 

denied popular rights, 99. 

cession of. 298-300. 
LOUISIANA PURCHASE, 300. 
LUXURY, 

fostered by credit, 182. 



M 



MADISON, JAMES, 

an ally of Jefferson In law reform, 26. 

brings about Jefferson's appointment as Minister to France, 32. 

exhorted to oppose Hamilton, 63. 

■writes Virginia Resolutions, 75. 

member of Jefferson's cabinet, 86. 

antagonized by Randolph, 104. 

chosen by Jefferson as a successor, 116. 

President, 117. 

character of, 301. 

MAGISTRATE, 

power of in religion, 357. 



4^2 INDEX. 

[References are to PagesJi 
MAJORITY, 

will of, 246. 

rule of, the natural law of society, 379. 

MANUAL OF PARLIAMENTARY LAW, 
compiled by Jefferson, 69. 

MANUFACTURES, 

the comforts of, 159. 
their limit, 301. 

MARITIME LAW, 177, 219. 
MARSHALL, JOHN, 

reads law with John Wythe, 5. 

envoy to France, 70. 

administers oath of office to Jefferson, 86. 

offends Jefferson in the Burr matter, 109. 

MARSHALS, FEDERAL, 322, 323. 
MASSACHUSETTS, APOSTASY, 302. 
MATRIMONY, 434. 
MAZZEI, 

extract from letter to, 308. 

MAURY, JAMES, 

a teacher of Jefferson, 4. 

MERCHANTS, 

unpatriotic, 302. 

METEMPSYCHOSIS, 

hypothesis of, 303. 

MILITARY POWER, 

subordinate to civil, 155. 

MILITIA, 

our natural defense, 304. 
retained for internal defense, 348. 
reliance upon, 420. 

MINISTERS, 

must be personae gratae, 304. 

MINORITY, 

rights of, 246. 
MISSISSIPPI, 

navigation of, 305, 315. 
MISSOURI QUESTION, 

not moral, 305. 
MONARCHICAL LEANINGS OF CERTAIN PEOPLE, 225. 
MONARCHISTS, 332. 



INDEX. 463 

[References are to Pages.^ 



MONARCHY, 

easily abandoned, 305. 

contrasted with a Republic, 305. 

the source of evil, 306. 

advocated in high quarters, 307. 

tendencies toward, 308. 

partizans of, 309. 

basis of a party of, 331. 

Constitution used as a stepping-stone to, 365. 

outgrowth of strong government, 397. 

MARYLAND, 

slavery in, 385. 

MONEY, 

unit of, 147. 

the value of gold and silver, 309. 

system of proposed, 310. 

specie the best, 310. 

should be metallic, 311. 

paper, 329. 

MONROE, JAMES, 

condoles with Jefferson, 32. 

sent as envoy to France, 68. 

recalled from France, 68. 

acts with Livingston, 93. 

closes the Louisiana purchase, 94. 

supported by Randolph for Presidency, 104. 

MONROE DOCTRINE, 
agreed to, 311. 

MONTICELLO, 

the sight of Jefferson's home, 10. 
beauties of, 311. 

MORALITY, 

may be cultivated, 312. 
founded in utility, 312. 
the guide of life, 312. 
public and private, 433. 

MORALS, 

determined by sentiment, 313. 
MORRIS, GOUVERNEUR, 

objections to him, 313. 
MOTTO FOR AMERICAN STATES, 192. 

MUSIC, 

Jefferson's passion for, 313, 
skill of the negro in, 317. 



4^4 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.'} 



MUTINY, 

punishment of, 352. 



N 



NAMES, 

giving of, 313. 
NATIONAL ACADEMY PROPOSED, 133. 
NATIONAL BANK, 

opinion concerning, 145, 146. 
NATIONAL DEBT, 

not a blessing, 186, 

NATIONAL GOVERNMENT, 

arbitrary course of, 314. 
NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, 

proposed to Congress, 314. 

NATURAL RIGHTS, 372. 
NATURALIZATION, 

made easy, 23. 

qualifications for, 314. 

period of, 315. 
NAVIGATION, 

of Mississippi, 305, 315. 

a natural right, 315. 

its double importance, 316. 
NAVY, 

Secretary of difficult to find. 316. 

a protection to commerce, 316. 

the necessity for, 420. 

NEGROES, 

their lack of imagination, 317. 

their improvement hoped for, 317. 

colonizing of. 317. 

disposed to steal, 317. 

their heart, 317. 

brought into Virginia, 382. 
NEIGHBORS, 318. 
NEPOTISM, 

Jefferson guiltless of, 318. 

a wrong principle, 319. 
NEUTRALS, 

their duty, 391. 
NEUTRALITY, 

the policy of the United States, 337. 



INDEX. 465 

[References are to Pages,"} 



NEW ENGLAND. 

its bickerings of secession, 375. 
NEWS, 

of the neighborhood the best, 319. 
NEWSPAPERS, 

prosecution of, 296. 

live on dissension, 319. 

avoidance of, 319. 

the safety of governments, 320. 

unreliability of, 320. 

writing for, 321. 
NEWTON, 

his greatness, 340. 
NEW YORK, 

no established church in, 154. 
NON-IMPORTATION BILL, 

passed, 103. 
NON-INTERCOURSE, 

better than war, 321. 
NORTHWEST TERRITORY, 

secured for Virginia, 28. 

plan of government proposed, 33. 
NOTABLES, 

the assembly of, 216, 221. 
NOVELS, 

their evil, 321. 
NULLIFICATION, 

doctrine of, 283. 

defended, 287. 



OATH OF OFFICE, 150. 
OFFICE, 

the cares of, 371, 

rotation in, 373, 

tenure of, 406. 

belongs to the locality, 430, 

not to be held by women, 436, 

OFFICES, 

nepotism in giving, 319. 
removal from, 322, 
geographical distribution of, 322. 
« appointments and removals, 322, 323, 324. 
answers to applications for, 325. 
grounds for removal from, 325. 



466 INDEX. 

[Feferences are to Pages.l 
OHIO RIVER, 327. 
OLIGARCHY, 

unfit for executive business, 327. 
OLIVE PLANT, 

brought to America, 381. 

OPINION, 

respect due to, 327. 
difference in, 429. 
integrity of, 327. 
ORDERS, 

in council reach Jefferson, 114. 

OSSIAN, 

admired by Jefferson, 327. 

Pi 

PAGE, JOHN. 

Jefferson's friend, 6. 
rival for office, 26. 

PAINE, THOMAS, 

recommended to Washington, 231. 

opinions professed, 328. 

and Bolingbroke, 328. 
PAPER MONEY, 

its nature, 310. 

not a legal tender, 329. 

PARDON, 

power of, 293. 
rule for granting, 329. 
PARLIAMENT, 

America's independence of, 256. 
authority of denied, 329. 
deaf to remonstrances, 339. 

PAROLE, 

sentiment respecting, 329. 
breach of, 330. 

PARTIES, 

origin of. 330. 

analysis of, 330. 

difference between, 331. 

consolidation of, 331. 

natural division of, 332. 

and the public good, 333. 

amalgamation of* 431. 
PARTIZANSHIP, 

offensive, 327. 



INDEX. 467 

[References are to Pages.^ 



PARTY, 

hot bound by, 334. 

loyalty professed, 335. 
PARTY SPIRIT, 

in 1797, 335. 

should be curbed, 430. 
PATENTS, 

length of right, 335. 
PATRIOTISM, 151. 

impossible among slaves, 384. 

test of. 395. 
PATRONAGE, 

bestowal of, 326. 

of general government, 336. 
PAUL, 

a corrupter of the doctrines of Jesus, 365. 

PEACE, 

the most important interest, 215. 

a condition of, 257. 

the best policy, 336. 

Jefferson's love for, 336. 

the true policy of all government, 338. 

spirit of 1793, 339. 

desire for, 438. 

PEOPLE, 

the depositories of government, 233. 

the proper censors of government, 339. 

their right to form a government, 391. 

sovereignty of, 392. 

to be trusted, 432. 
PETITIONS, 

to Parliament fruitless, 339. 
PENNSYLVANIA, 

no established church in, 154. 
PHILOSOPHERS, 

a superior order of genius, 340. 
PHILOSOPHY, 

sacred name of, 349. 
PICKERING, JUDGE, 

impeachment of, 99. 
PINCKNEY, C. C, 

Federalist candidate for President, 100. 

PLATO, 

overrated, 340. 



4^2 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.l 
PLEASURES, 

of the intellect, 341. 

POETRY, 

loss of taste for, 342. 

POLITICS, 

connected with law, 293. 

POLITENESS, 

preservative of peace, 342. 

POWER, 

of office, 343. 

its proper use, 343, 

PRECEDENCE, 

rules of, 208. 

PRESBYTERIANISM, 

intolerance of, 344. 

PREROGATIVES, 

of the President, 380. 
PRESIDENCY, 

seven years' term, 345. 

election of, 200. 
PRESIDENT, 

should not be re-eligible, 306. 
PRESIDENTIAL TOURS. 346. 
PRESS, 

freedom of, 218, 254, 284, 347, 349, 378. 
PRINCE OP WALES, 

character of, 347. 
PRINCIPLES, 

constancy of Jefferson's, 348. 
PRIESTS AND LIBERTY, 302. 
PRIESTLY, 

the apostle of science, 347. 
PROFESSION, 

of political faith, 348. 
PROGRESS, 349. 
PROPERTY, 

qualification for voting, 400, 401. 
PROSCRIPTION, 

on account of religion, 156. 
PROTECTION, 

to manufactures, 350, 434. 
PSEUDO-ARISTOCRACY, 141 



INDEX. 469 

[References are to Pages.} 



PUBLIC DEBT, 
sacred, 187. 

doctrine concerning, 187. 
PUBLIC LANDS, 

appropriation of, 292. 
PUBLIC OPINION, 

the support of government, 350. 
PUBLIC SERVICE, 214, 250. 

not conducive to happiness, 351. 
PULPIT. 

the place for religious discussion only, 351. 
PUNISHMENT, 

for crimes, 183, 184. 

for duelling, 193. 

in proportion to crime, 293. 

for breach of parole, 330. 

of soldiers, 352. 



QUAKERS, 

character of. 353. 

in Delaware, 354. 
QUARTERING TROOPS, 354. 



Q 



B 



RANDOLPH, PEYTON, 

recalled from Congress, 12. 
RANDOLPH, EDMOND, 

succeeds Jefferson. 61. 
RANDOLPH, JOHN, 

carries Louisiana purchase through the House, 98. 

irritated by Jefferson, 101. 

breaks with Jefferson, 103. 

tries to displace Madison with Monroe, 104. 

foreman of jury at Burr's trial. 111. 

his doctrine concerning treaties, 413. 

RATIO. 

of gold to silver, 309. 
REASON, 

cannot regulate morals, 313. 

the guide of life, 359. 
REBELLION, 

fondness of Jefferson for, 9, 

a necessary medicine, 297. 

sometimes wholesome, 354. 

makes for liberty, 355. 



4/0 INDEX. 

{References are to Pages.'] 
RECIPROCITY, 

in trade, 355. 

the interest of nations, 355. 
RECONCILIATION, 

with England, 356. 
REFORMATION, 

of criminals, 184. 

RELIGION, 

proscription on account of, 156. 

independent of general government, 252. 

freedom in, 349. 

compulsion in, 357. 

essence of, 357. 

freedom of established in Virginia, 358. 

of Jesus. 358. 

uniformity in, 359. 

examination of^ 360. 

revealed in conduct, 362. 

of Jefferson, 364. 
RELIGIOUS LIBERTY, 

advocated by Jefferson, 23. 
REPRESENTATIVE BODIES, 

dissolution of, 365. 
REPUBLICANISM, 

readily adopted, 305. 

the young attached to, 306. 

of the people, 307. 

testimony to, 365. 

restored, 366. 

of the Constitution, 366. 

of Washington, 421. 
REPUBLICS, 366, 367. 
RESIDENCE, 

of Congressmen, 369. 

RETIREMENT, 351, 369, 370, 37L 
RETROSPECTIVE LAWS, 294. 
REVENUE OF GOVERNMENT, 

should not be permanent, 371. 
REVOLUTION, 

cause of, 371. 

RHODE ISLAND, 

its people merchants, 372. 
RICE, 

consumption of in France, 372. 

introduced into America, 382. 



INDEX. 471 

[References are to Pages.l 



RICHMOND, 

public library, 297. 
RIGHTS, 

of freemen, 142, 358. 

in society, 372. 
RITTENHOUSE, 

genius of rewarded, 231. 
ROCHEFOUCAULD, 

visits Monticello, 59. 

ROGUES. 

always uppermost, 373. 
ROTATION, 

in office, 169, 170, 373, 374. 



SALARIES, 

of Foreign Ministers, 375. 
SALVATION, 375. 
SANGUINARY LAWS. 293. 
SCIENCE, 

encouragement of, 349. 
SECESSION, 

spirit of in Massachusetts, 302. 

its logical results, 375. 

reprobated, 376, 377. 

worse than war, 416. 
SECRECY, 

of public transactions, 377. 

SEDITION ACT, 78, 137. 

declared void, 285, 377. 
SEIZURES, 

wrongfully made, 378. 

SELF-GOVERNMENl', 379. 

SENATE, 

its power in reference to appointments, 326, 380. 

SENTIMENT, 

the guide to morality, 313. 
SEPARATION, 

of Church and State, 154. 
SEPARATION, 

from Great Britain, 403. 
SERVICES, 

of Jefferson, 381. 



'47^ INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.'\ 
SILVER, 

its ratio to gold, 309. 
the money unit, 310. 

SKELTON, MARTHA. 

Jefferson marries, 10. 

SLAVERY, 

opposition of Jefferson to, 381. 
abolition of, 381-384. 
forbidden in western territory, 385. 
history of Jefferson's views on, 387. 

SMALL, WILLIAM, 

Jefferson's instructor, 5. 

SMITH, ROBERT, 

a member of Jefferson's cabinet, 86. 

SOLDIERS, 

punishment of, 352. 

SOULS, 

care of, 375. 
SOUTH AMERICA, 

its Americanism, 390. 
SOVEREIGNTY, 

of courts of justice, 282. 

of Congress, 391. 

of the people, 392. 

SPAIN, 

our relations with, 393. 

its relations to its colonies, 394, 395. 

our enemy, 395. 
SPIRIT, 

of the law, 395. 

STATE, 

to obey confederation, 164. 

its right to service, 381. 
STATE AND CHURCH. 

independent, 154. 
STATE GOVERNMENT, 

the best, 314, 395. 
STATES GENERAL, 220, 221. 
STATE'S RIGHTS, 395, 397, 398. 

STATES, 

proper size of, 397. 

STATUES, 

proper size of, 399. 



INDEX. 473 

[References art to Paget."] 



STATUTE, 

for religious freedom, 358. 
SUBPOENAS, 

for liigh officials, 399. 
SUFFRAGE, 

universal, 190. 

qualifications for, 401. 

right of, 401. 
"SUMMARY VIEW.' 

written by Jefferson, 11. 
SUPREME COURT, 272-281, 401. 

danger of, 402. 

T 

TAXATION, 

direct to be left to the States, 169. 

should not oppress labor, 194. 

the right of denied to England, 403. 

the simplest method of, 403. 

direct and indirect, 404. 

progressive, 404. 

on imports, 405. 

principles of, 405. 

on wines* 406. 

TALENT, 

supply of, 403. 
TENURE, 

of office. 406. 

THIRD TERM, 

of President, 346, 374. 

TITLE, 

to land, 292. 

TITLES, 

unamerican, 407. 
their influence, 407. 

TOBACCO, 

land impoverished by, 407. 

TOLERATION, 
act of. 344. 
of opinion, 333. 
principles of, 408. 

TORIES, 

weakness of, 332. 
their designs, 371. 
described, 408. 



474 INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.2 
TORIES AND WHIGS, 426. 
TOURS, 

Presidential, 346. 
TOWNSHIPS, 

their excellence, 408. 

the guarantee of free government, 410. 

the life of self-government, 411. 

division of counties into, 411. 
TRADE, 

freedom of, 159. 

reciprocity, 355. 
TRAVEL, 

effect upon Jefferson, 38. 

its effect, 412. 
TREASON, 

observations upon, 412. 
TREATIES, 

to be regulated by commerce, 160. 

can be acted upon by the House, 412. 

should be made with all nations, 413. 
TRIAL, 

by jury, 281. 
TRIPOLI, 

war with, 102. 
TRUTH, 180, 413, 414. 
TYRANNY, 

hostility to, 152. 

the foe of education, 242. 

of Legislatures, 295. 

of foreign Governments, 414. 

n 

UNIFORMITY, 

in religion, 358, 414. 
UNION, 

for external matters, 160. 

strength of, 247. 

of colonies, 415. 

among the States, 416. 
UNITARIANISM, 

growth of, 416. 
UNIVERSITY, NATIONAL, 

proposed to Congress, 314. 
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA, 124, 127, 417. 



INDEX. 475 

[References are to Pages.^ 



UTILITY, 

the foundation of morality, 312. 

V 

VETO, 

power of Presidents, 146. 
VICE-CONSULS, 

relation to their chiefs, 176. 
VICE-PRESIDENCY, 

Jefferson satisfied with, 418; 

a congenial ofSce, 419. 
VICE-PRESIDENT, 

his functions, 419. 
VIRGIL. 243. 
VIRGINIA, 

strong for independence, 257. 

deserts monarchy, 305. 
VIRGINIA, 

university of, 124, 127, 417, 418. 

w 

WALKING, 211, 242. 
WAR, 336, 419, 420, 421. 
WASHINGTON, 

City of, in 1800, 84. 
WASHINGTON, GEORGE, 

with Jefferson in the Virginia Legislature, 9. 

on a committee with Jefferson, 12. 

Jefferson provides statue for, 37. 

commands Jefferson's services, 56. 

nominated Lieutenant-General of all armies, 71. 

reasons for accepting a second term, 193. 

Jefferson's loyalty to, 350 

an estimate of, 421. 

his republicanism, 421. 

his good luck, 422. 

his political principles, 423. 

his loyalty to the Constitution, 426. 

WAYLES, 

father-in-law of Jefferson, 10. 

WELFARE, 

clause, the general, 145, 267. 
WEST, 

the reliance upon, 436. 



47^ INDEX. 

[References are to Pages.'\ 
WESTERN TERRITORY, 

slavery forbidden in, 385. 
WHEAT. 

standard of value, 433. 

cultivation ot 407. 
WHIGS AND TORIES, 332, 426. 
V/HIPPING, 

inflicted upon soldiers, 352. 
WHISKY, 

its ruinous effects, 426. 
WILKINSON, GENERAL, 

suspected, 106. 

resists Burr. 107. 
WILLIAM AND MARY COLLEGE, 4. 
WOMEN, 

not to hold office, 436. 
WOMEN, 

of America compared with those of Paris, 427. 
WYTHE, GEORGE, 

preceptor of Jefferson, 5. 

assists Jefferson, 25. 

X 

X Y Z AFFAIR, 70. 






IN the preparation of this book I have constantly felt my indebt- 
edness to the ten superb volumes of Mr. Paul Leicester Ford's 
Writings of Jefferson, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons, New 
York. Without that work no comprehensive study of Jefferson 
can be made, and in common with all lovers of history, my hearty 
thanks are due to the editors and publishers for the splendid en- 
terprise. S. E. F. 



